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'^c • / ^ ' ^

HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY

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SITTING BULL

\vRECENT

INDIAN WAR^

UNOCR THC LSAO Of

SITTING BUUU

AND OTHER CHIEFS;
WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OP

A.KD

feogt * ©aE>®es.

By JAMES P. BO YIVA. M-.

PUBUSHEKS UNION.

1892.

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CONTBNTS.

• • •

Introdvctofy, •

CHAPTBR L
Tha Wat with tha PnablM, •

CHAPTBRIL
Tha Shoabona Uprisiag,

CHAPTBR III.
Wan -with iha CalifornU Tribat, . •

CHAPTER IV.
A Yuma IJattacra,

CHAPTBR V.
Tha Rogua Rivar Wart,

CHAPTBR VI.
War with tha Chajraonaa,

CHAPTBR VIL
Kavijo HoatUitiaa, ....

CHAPTBR VIIL
Tha Affidr of Moantaia Maadow, • •

CHAPTBR IX.
The Spokana Wars, ••••••

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CHAPTBR X.
TIm FScTM Apacfact Mid AmfMihoeft,

CHAPTBR XL
Wan with th« Og»UaU«« and Crowi*

CHAPTBR XIL
TIm Pkgaa PniilaliiiiMit,

' CHAPTBR XIIL
lI^ftTaBed, . • • •
' . CHAPTBR XIV.
r Mid Um SiottZf •

CHAPTBR XV.
The 2tai Feren Wan, ....

CHAPTBR XVX.
TIm Utaa of White RiTcr, .

CHAPTBR' XVIL
Tbm Mwriah Craaa and Ghoat Daaca,

CHAPTBR XVIIX.
ICaateriag tha Sitnatioo,

CHAPTBR XIX.
Raipactiag tha Upriaiiig» •

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List of Illustrations.

Sitting Bull, . FrontlH^ect.

White Bagle, . • 3

White Thunder, • • ^

Big Joieph. "

John OffMt, • . • *4

lUtion Da/ at en Agenqr, ••••••• >^

RedCload, »3«

Siending Hollj, (Sitting Bull's Denghtcr), • . • • 134

Sioux ^ the Werpeth, • * • W

A Gffonp of Sioux Chie£i, • • • • • • .141

General Nel^m A. Milee, • I79

OhoetDenee, •••••••••• >^s

Front of the Company Street, zat U. S. Cavalry at Ft. Keogh, 187

Tepeet of SionxChiefr at Ft Thunder, • .y-^ \ 190 T

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^n«w of tlM Bud Lands, ^ . . aqS

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THE recent uprising of the Sioux Indians and
their kindred tribes in the Dakotas, added to
the possibility of a great conspiracy among
all the mountain tribes of the West^ for the
purpose of rapine, at a date not later than the
spring and summer of 1891, has excited lively
interest in all that appertains to the Red Race,
especially their wars, numbers, and the method
of dealing with them.

The policy of the National Government toward
the Indian, prior to his removal beyond the Mis-
sissippi, was the cruel policy of extinction. In-
dians were then more numerous than now, braver,
more in the way. It cost a great deal to subdue
them, more to extinguish them. They were sel-
dom friendly, but often dangerous enemies, prone
to ally themselves with foreign nations, as was
natural, for every civilized nation has treated
them better than our own«

The time came, but not until the Indian had
fully proved that he preferred extinction to slavery
or to the adoption of our civilization, when it was
deemed a wise policy to rid th^ lands east of the

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t umtODUCTORY.

Mississippi of his presence. All west of tte Mis-
sissippi was then deemed sufficiently open to make
it safe for the transfer to take place. But in
practice it did not prove so. The eastern Indian
had a little of the salt of commerce in him and
had cultivated some of the ways of industry.
He found himself among enemies of his own race.
He was scarcely less in the way — an Indian is
always in the way— of our own advance. So, as
one of its first acts of mercy, the Government
availed itself of the cheap lands at its disposal,
and fell to the policy of a species of Indian coloni*
zation, which took the form of granting the
migrating tribes large reservations and a sort of
self-government, provided they would stay at
home, behave themselves and do whatever was
asked of them. Most of the tribes did this, and
those who confined themselves to the Indian Ter-
ritory, have had little occasion to regret the did*
position which was made of them.

But that did not settle the Indian question by
any means. The trans-Mississippi lands, the
' lands of sterile plains, loAy plateaus and mount-
ain gorges, were peopled by numerous tribes,
more nomadic by reason of their immense terri-
torial spaces, than those of the east; dependent
for food on a lesser variety but a larger size o^
game, as the bufialo, and actuated by a savagery

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INTRODUCTORY. 9

quite as cunning and remorseless as any we read
of in the history of colonial times. While many
of these tribes are of the same general family, as
indicated by their speech and habits, the larger
ones are quite distinct, being separated by wide
plains or high mountain barriers. All of them
lliave ever evinced the traditional hostility to the
white man, regarding his advance as dispossess-
ion and his methods of life as obnoxious.

Therefore, the West-Mississippi tribes soon
came into a prominence which ever, overshadow-
ed that which the Bast-Mississippi tribes had oc-
cupied in history. The constant opening of new
lands by the whites, the discovery of gold in Cal-
ifornia, the development of agriculture and min-
ing in various directions^ all of the forces of our
civilization which constantly brought the white
man into contact with the western natives, just
as constantly produced clashes of the two races.
The consequences have been that pioneering has
always been fraught with its old time dangers,
and that the whit^ man has been compelled to lit-
erally fight his way to the Pacific.

For fifty years the Government has tried to
shape a policy for the western Indian, which had
some of the elements of intelligent humanity in
it, but all of those years have been characterized
by violent Indian outbreaks, and often protracted ^

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10 INTRODUCTORY.

and bloody wars. All recognize that the policy
of force which the pioneer uses when left to
himself^ is based only on his selfishness, and is
essentially brutal. That the Government might
escape the appearance of sanctioning perpetual
murders, and the expense of continual embroiL
ment, by sending troops whenever called for to
protect settlers who had become involved with
the Indians, it adopted, as most expedient, a
policy for the Western Indians similar to that it
had tried on with the Eastern. While it did not
ask them to migrate, as it- had done with the
Eastern Indians, and for the reason that it could
not force them, it allotted to them the lands
which had constituted their hunting grounds
and called them ^^ reservations.'' To these reser-
.vations it gave crude metes and bounds, and
within their limits the respective tribes were to
dwelL To those tribes who had thus materially
curtafled their hunting grounds by giving up
large and valuable areas, the Government offered
a consideration, sometimes very handsome, and
the increment of this consideration, or, so to
speak, the interest on it, was to go to the support
of the tribe in the shape of annual supplies. In
other instances, where the possibility of living
by the chase within the reservation had been
entirely cut off, the consideration was a set of

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INTRODUCTORY.

supplies, equal to a living, to be distributed peri-
odically at regularly established agencies and
through authorized Government agents.

The scheme looked plausible* It had a show
of fairness about it, from the white man's stand-
point It was charitable in the respect that the
Indian need not necessarily starve under it
It would segregate the tribes and thus dimin-
ish the possibility of conspiracies and alli-
ances to cany on extensive wars. It would set
free immense tracts of land for the progressive
white man. It would encourage the Indian to
try agriculture and the peaceful arts on his own
hook. Even if he had to be fed outright and in
full by the Govemment, it would be cheaper in
the end, than the annual expenditure of millions
to maintain an army with which to fight him.
Thus segregated, and his territory defined,
missionaxy enterprise would become possible in
his midst.

The difficulties in the way have been that only
the weaker and t^tmer tribes have accepted the
policy. The larger and wilder tribes have not
proven amenable. Their example has always
proven a source of dissatisfaction with those upon
the reservations. Again, the Indian, naturally -
suspicious and discontented, has not found that
faith on the part of the Government and his white

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IKTRODUCTORY.

sarroundingSy lie was given to expect. Granted
that lie is a mal-odorous and savage being, still he
has rights. It is doubtful whether the number of
Indian wars and massacres has been diminished
by a single one, by the adoption of the reser-
vation and agency policy. Certainlyi all the late
Indian outbreaks have involved a complaint on
the part of the tribes that the Government
had violated its solemn compacts with them.
Some of these wars have been fierce and protracted
and have cost many precious lives and vast sums
of money.

It is our purpose to describe these Indian wars
of modem times. In themselves they make a
thrilling story and are worthy of reading on that
account alone. But they are even more valuable
at this time, as showing how the western Indian
and western pioneering repeat the older history
of adventure, of daring, of cunning, of massacre^
and how illy prepared our civilization is, even
after an acquaintance of two hundred years, to
evolve an Indian policy which is at all creditable
to our intelligence, humanity and Christianity.
It may be that a study of the Indian wars for the
last fifty years will show wherein our policy has
been weak, and, mayhap, it may show what ought
to be done to remove the badge of shame from
our management of one of the most vital questions

INTRODUCTORY.

which now confronts us as a nation. Just now,
General Miles proposes to transfer the entire con-
trr>l.of the Indian qn^cHnn f|-Qm t1ii> oi yil fA ,fTiA
military d epartme nt of the Government, his
theory being that force goes further with an In-
dian than suasion. If the step would insure a
greater degree of fairness in dealing with him.
Heaven help the nation to take it.

That this little book may delight all, and at
the same time help us to solve one of the knot-
tiest problems of the day, is the sincere wish of
its author.

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Chapter I.
WAR WITH THE PUEBLOS.

IN June, 1846, the advance of the then " Army
of the West," under Colonel Kearney,
marched from Fort Leavenworth into New
Mexico. It was met at Fort Bent by two troops
of cavalry. In the following autumn a regiment
of men under Colonel Price started for the scene,
together with a Mormon detatchmentof five hun-
dred men. Altogether, the gathering at Fort
Bent consisted of nearly seveuteenhundred men,
six companies of which were cavalry, and two
batteries of artillery.

The object was to expel the Mexicans and In-
dians from New Mexico. When the American
army crossed the plains and learned that it was
to be confronted at Apache Canon — ^the natural
approach to Sa^ta Fe — ^by 5,000 Mexicans, it
naturally concluded that a desperate battle was at
hand. But, strange to say, their advance was
unimpeded, for the Mexicans, on learning of the
approachof the Americans beat a hasty retreat.
The conquest of New Mexico thus far, was easy
and bloodless. The Mexican army was disbanded ^

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WAS. WITH TRB PUBBIX>8.

at Santa Fe, and the northern invaders entered
this oldest city in the United States in peace.

Having accomplished its mission, for the most
part, this little army of 1,700 men, divided up for
the purpose of conquering further empires. Kear-
ney started with 300 men for California, and
Colonel Doniphan marched vritli 850 men for the
conquest of Chihuahua. The result Qf this last
expedition was a battle at Bradto, with an army
of x,2oo Meidcans, in which the latter were com-
pletely routed.

Before Kearney left for the west, he organized
a provisional government for the Territory with
Charles Bent as Governor. He was the builder
and occupant of Bent's fort on the Arkansas. It
was a strong fort, and Bent was a man of great
courage and large experience with the rough and
ready ways of the frontier. There were, as yet,
but few Americans in his jurisdiction. The
people were mostly Mexicans, Pueblo Indians and
wild Indians. The wild Indians had been friendly
to the Americans, because the Mexicans were in
control, but now that the Americans were in con-
trol, they had, according to Indian nature become
hostile. The Mexicans, who remained were of
veiy little account except as disturbers of the
peace, for they were of that class which had done
service as peons for the grandees who had fled.

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WAR WITH THE PUBBLOa

The Pueblo Indians were the most numerous,
intelligent and reliable of the three. They
embraced a number of tribes, of very ancient
origin, akin to each other in speech and habit,
far advanced in intelligence, somewhat Christian*
ized by the Catholic church, given to agriculture
and art, and resident for the most part in perma*
nent towns — whence their name, Pueblo.

At the time of our conquest of New Mexico,
they inhabited some twenty-six towns, some of
which were in Arizona, occupied by the Moquis,
or " death" portion, and by the Zuni portion, also
in Arizona, the remaining portions being in the
Rio Grande Valley. In -all respects they are a
most interesting people, having a history, run-
ning back in accurate chapters to the Spanish.
Conquest, and traditions that connect them with
the ancient Aztec races of the Pacific slope. That
they had been a high grade people, is shown by
the remains of art in their country. Some of the
most remarkable ruins of pottery ovens, house
architecture and irrigating appliances in the
country, one found in their midst The outlines .
of many ancient towns are yet distinct, and it is
clear that they possessed the art of both weaving
and writing.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Pueblos
ranked as an hon^t, brave, sober, intelligent and t

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a WAR WITH THE PUBBLOS.

industrious people^ to whose forefathers we ire
williog to attribute a high civilizatiou and the*
origin of the hyeroglyphics, the cave dwellings,
the many wonderful ruins of art and architecture
found in the valleys and canons from the Rio
Grande to the Mohave Desert, they were never-
theless true to their Indian origin in the respect
that as soon as the American troops left Santa
Fe for other points they began to conspire to take
advantage of a weakened situation. They found
ample encouragement in the disappointed
Mexican leaders who added recklessness to their
discomfiture. An uprising was planned for
December of the year 1846, and its object was to
murder or dispel every American and friendly
Indian found in the newly created department.
The signals tor the uprising had been agreed
upon and were ready, but as fortune would have
it, the plot was revealed three days in advance of
the time set Many of the ringleaders were ar-
rested, and there was a general stampede of the
rest to Mexico. Governor Bent issued a pacify-
^ ing' proclamation, which tided over the excite*
ment, but insurrection smoldered for only a time.
In January 1847, t^^ Pueblos rose in a body and
demanded the release of certain of their number
retained as prisoners. Their demand was un-
heeded, whereupon they made an attack and

WAR WITH THB PUBBLOS.

»9

killed the sheriff and his assistants. TJieir sue-
.cess met with encouragement at the hands of
several of the original conspirators, and they in-
vested the home of Governor Bent His wife
warned him of his danger. Seeing the futility
of contending with so numerous and bloodthirsty
a host, he called for assistance from the neighbors
who were mostly Mexicans. They refused him
aid and almost mockingly told him that he might
as well make up his mind to die. Meanwhile he
had received two wounds from the arrows of the
Pueblos. Retreating to his room, his wife brought
him his pistols and asked him to avenge himself,
even if he must die. He declined to use them
saying, " I will kill no one of them, for your
sake and for that of my children. My death is
all these in&tuated and cruel people ask at
present"

^ The savages had already torn the roof off the
house and began pouring into his room. He ap-
pealed to their manhood and honor, but in vain.
** Every American in New Mexico should dieJ"
they exclaimed,. " and you shall go with them.**
An arrow followed their bloody resolve, then an-
other and another, but the method was not swift
enough. A bullet sped through his heart and as
he fell, a chief, steppmg forward, snatched one of
his pistols and shot him in the face. Then they t

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WAR WITH THB FUBBLOS.

took his scalp, and stretching it on a board with
brass nails, carried it through the streets in tri* .
nmph. After this, the Indians running wild
with excitement, carried their massacre into every
house whose occupant was an American. All of
the leading officials perished or made their escape
with difficulty. Whole families were extermina-
ted. The priests, who were partly blamed for in-
citing the insurrection had to intercede to stay its
cruelty.

Word of the insurrection spread among the
Indian tribes and the uprising became general
Word also was carried to Sante Fe, and the
Americans rallied for resistance. Traveling
parties were captured and shot by the Indians,
settlements were attacked and broken up ; guards
were driven away from the cattle ranches and the
cattle were stampeded and driven off. At length
the hostiles surrounded the strong corral at Tuj.
ley's milL The owner was a conspicuous man
in the Territory, and stood well with the Indians.
He had a strong band of help about him, who on
the approach of the Indians hastened within the
corral and prepared for defence. The Indians
closed in upon the place and offered to spare
Turley's life, but said they had killed the Gov-
ernor at Pemandez, and that every American in
the Territory must di«. Turley ^ed them.

WAR Wrru THB PUBBLOa

The Indians then began the attack under cover
of the rocks and bushes. The defenders made a
loop hole of every window in the mill and laid
many an Indian low with their bullets. All day
the siege was maintained, and at nightfall firing
ceased, but the hostiles crept closer under cover of
darkness. They originally numbered 500, and
now their strength was being increased by new
accessions. In the morning hostilities began
again, and with increased determination on the
part of the Indians. They got a foothold within
the corral, where scores of them, including one of
their most popular chiefs, fell victims to the bul-
lets of the defenders. Baffled o'er and o'er again
by the bravery of the besieged, the Indians re-
newed every attack more desperately, only to
find their numbers reduced by the unerring aim
of the defenders. Finally the Indians got close
enough to fire the mill. The flames were extin-
guished only to break out again. Ammunition
was running low. The defenders gave up hope,
but resolved to hold on until night, and then try
to escape, each one striking out for himself This
they did, but in the effort to pierce the cordon
about them all fell victims except two, who man-
aged to reach Santa Fe as bearers of the horrid
news.

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tt WAR WITH TBB PUSBLOS.

On their arrival Col. Price started immediately
with his command of 350 infantry and four
howitzers for the scene. His force was aug-
mented by a company of volunteers, who com-
prised the indignant citizens of Sante Fe. They
hastened to Taos, where they met the hostiles
under the lead of a Mexican officer, and battle
was at once joined. It was but a brief fight for
the enemy was quickly dislodged from its strong
hold by the howitzers, and then thrown into
confused retreat by a splendid charge on the part
of the Americans. They left 3a dead on the
field together with the usual compliment of
wounded.

Col. Price now received reinforcements, and
with an army of 500 pushed on to the canon of
Embudo, where the enemy were posted in force.
They were in a strong position, but were charged
npon and driven out with considerable loss.
Thence they retreated up the valley to a strong
pueblo, and there was nothing to do for the
American army but to follow. The pursuit
involved great hardship, for a deep snow had
fUlen and many officers and soldiers perished by
being frozen, or through colds contracted by
sleeping without tents or blankets. At the
pueblo they found the enemy strongly fortified*
The village was surrounded by thick adobe walls.

WAR WITH THB PUBBLOS.

at whose comers rose high bulwarks capable of
sheltering 800 men. Every point of the wall was
pierced for rifles, and every point without was
flanked by projecting angles.

It would not do to rush indiscriminately upon
such a stronghold. The army was carefully
deployed, and positions were chosen for the artil-
lery. For two hours the batteries played on a
comer of the fortification, but without effect
Then there was a wait over night for further am^
munition. During this time a plan of attack was
matured. The village was surrounded on three
sides ; on the east and west by troops, on the
north by the artillery. The artillery was to play
till it made a breach in the walls, but it proved
ineffective for this purpose. The troops on the
other sides were then commanded to close and
charge. They scaled the walls by means of
ladders, fired the roofs of the buildings, cut holes
through walls, threw in lighted shells and fought
desperately for the vantage. Meanwhile, the
artillery was busy landing shot and shell into
the inclosure and distracting the attention of the
6nemy. Venturesome as was the attack of the
Americans, they found no such resistance as
they anticipated, for the enemy was never given
a moment to concentrate its fire. It was driven
by slow degrees into the church b^

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J4 WA& WITH THB PUHBLOa

comer of the pueblo, where it made its last des-
perate 8tand« A breach had been made in the
outer walls through which a cuunon was run.
This was turned on the church and in ten rounds
the walls began to crumble. Pioneers were form-
ed who rushed into the church with axes and be-
gan to batter down the doors. The Indians broke
and fled to other portions of the pueblo. Those
who tried to escape to the mountains were shot
down by the troops stationed without, tliose who
gained cover within the pueblo were searched out
and given no quarter. Chiefs fell who wore the
clothing of white men killed at Turley's mill.
One was slain who was dressed in the coat of
Governor Bent. Altogether 150 of the insur.
gents were slain and twice that many wounded
out of a total of 650. On the morning after the
battle a delegation of men and women came to
Colonel Price bearing crucifixes and images, and
begged mercy on their knees. It was granted
on condition that the ringleaders should be sur*
rendered for trial under the law.

The conditions were accepted, and the culprits
were taken into custody by the army. Many of
them were Mexican desperadoes, who had incited
the Indians to rebellion. Scores of them were
tried and convicted. Fourteen of them were
execnted^ and the rest were pardoned on condition

WAR WITH THE PUBBLOS. 95

of future good behavior. The victory of our army
was complete. On no occasion since have the
Pueblos turned against the United States Gov-
emment. Their chastisement was sufficient for
all time. Since then they have departed from
the Mexican traditions and remitted much of
their savagery. Most of them have drifted into
citizenship, and have yielded to missionary enter-
prise. In 1874 the Government had its last dif-
ficulty with them, which was largely a religious
a£fair, and was peaceably adjusted.

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Chaptbr n.
THE SHOSHONE UPRISING.

THE great Shoshone stock of Indians origin-
ally embraced the most powerful tribes
of the extreme Northwest, grouped into
families according to the topography of the
country. The Modocs, Bannocks, Snakes, Utes,
Kiowas and Comanches are of Shoshone origin.
Akin to them also were the three families of
tribes which extend from the Blue Mountains of
Oregon to the Canadian border. The northern-
most of these families . is the Selish, to which
belong the Platheads and Coeur D' Alenes.
South of them is the Saptin family, embracing
the Nez Perces, Walla-Wallas, Klickitats, Yaki-
mas and Pelouse. Below the Columbia River
are the Wailatpu, Cayuses and Moleles. The
Spokanes are found on the Spokane branch of
Clark's Fork.

In early days, the emigrant road through the
Grand Ronde, over the Blue Mountains and
down the WallarWalla to the Columbia, opened
up what was r^^arded as a fine field for mission*

I N

V.I

THB SHOSHONE UPUSINO.

ary enterprise, and a large and prosperous mis-
sion station was started at Wailatpu, for the pur-
pose of civilizing and christianizing the Wailat-
pus and Cajnises. Another mission of similar
proportions sprang up on the Lapwai, at its junc-
tion with the Clear Water, which was a centre of
evangelical influence with the Nez Perces. Still
another came into being near the Spokane River,
far to the north. Down the Columbia, at the
Dalles, and again in the Williamette, were other
missions, mostly under Methodist auspices.

The climate and soil were inviting. Mission-
ary work went bravely on among tribes, which
seemed kindly disposed and amenable. The
missions became quite independent little settle-
ments, with mills, shops, schools, churches, farms
and a suflBcient number of people to constitute a
society. But there was one misfortune attending
settlement and missionary enterprise in this x
region. The old and powerful Hudson Bay
Company had a fortified trading post at Wallula,
the mouth of the Walla-WaUa. The headquar-
ters of said company was further down, at Fort
Vancouver. The officers of this company
had favored missionary enterprise from the
States, and the presence of its strong and well
fortified trading ports was regarded as a means
of safety for the remote missionary stations.

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l8 THB 8H08H0NB UPRISmO.

This Company, however, came to represent
England in her designs upon our Northern fron-
tier. Those designs were to push the Canadian
borders down so as to embrace a control of the
Columbia River. The company officials made
overtures to the missionaries and settlers, which
had to be rejected on both moral and patriotic
grounds. These officials then began to antago-
nize settlement and to corrupt the natives. They
sold the Indians rum, guns and ammunition, on
the plea that it made their hunting more success-
ful. They opposed agriculture, lest it diminish
the Company's food supply. When it became
manifest that the Americans were up to their
game, and were forcing a settlement of the
country, the Company fought every step of north-
ward progress. It opposed cattle company and
saw mill, with rivals, and at last went so far as
to warn intruders from lands it claimed by
virtue of no title at all. Emigrant trains were
blockaded at Port Hall, and several trains were
forced to deflect southward into California. Prob-
ably the worst feature of the Company's opposi-
tion was that it acted as convoy to the Jesuit
Priests who were bitter against the Protestant
missionaries from the south.

Thejealoosy and bitterness which sprang up
between the Catholic and Protestant missions

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.THB SBOSHONft VPftlSIMO. ^

passed to the Indians in intensified form. They
became restless and turbulent, fit subjects for
crime, should a pretext offer. The Jesuits had
decidedly the most influence over the Indians.
Their missions were encouraged and protected by
the powerful Company at their back. They
could use its employes as heralds and interpre-
ters. They were in stronger force than the
Protestants. In 1847, a newly appointed Jesuit
Bishop of Oregon came to Walla-Walla and held
a conference with Ta-wai-tu, a Catholic Cayuse
chief. It was given out that the object of the
conference was to devise means for dispossess-
ing the Protestants and occupying the sites of
their missions. At any rate, the Bishop took
up permanent quarters at Minatilla, in a house
offered by Ta-wai-tu, twenty-five miles south of
Wailatpu, and in the rear of the flourishing mis-
sion there. This was on November 27, 1847.
On November 29, while the mill at Wailatpu was
running, the school in session, all the artisans at
their trades, and the missionaries moving about in
their errands of mercy, several Indians appeared
upon the scene, headed byTamsaky, who sud-
denly drew a tomahawk from beneath his blan-
ket and brained the venerable Dr. Whitman, th«
head of the mission-

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30 THB 8H0SH0NB UPRISING.

In an instant all was confusion within the
mission grounds. The striking down of Dn
Whitman was the signal for a general attack by
the Indians^ who now appeared in all parts of the
grounds — at the mill, the shops, the chapel and '
the schools. The Indians were well armed with
knives, tomahawks, pistols and Hudson Bay Com-
pany muskets. The miller fell at his post, bravely
fighting. The tailor and carpenter went down at
their benches. The teacher made a brave stand
at the schoolroom, but was soon numbered among
the victims. The frightened children fled to
the loft for hiding, but were soon brought
down and driven into a huddled mass by a cor*
don of savages who held them trembling prison-
ers by threats of shooting. The women who
had fled for safety to the central mansion and
had taken refuge in the upper stories, were or-
dered down in order that the house might be
fired. The fate of most of them was more horri-
ble than if they had submitted to being burned.
Mrs. Whitman and others were foully murdered.
Many were taken prisoners and carried away
into bondage. A few managed to escape slaugh-
ter and captivity for the time being and remained
in hiding in the houses.

Night came on and the Indians withdrew to
their lodges, after finishing their plundering. It

THE 8H0SH0NB UPRISINO.

was a night of terror for the few survivors at the
mission. Under cover of the darkness, one man
escaped and made his way to Lapwai. The Os-
borne family escaped and reached Walla-Walla.
Several fugitives were caught the next day and
murdered. The young girls, daughters of teach-
ers and mechanics, were distributed among the
braves who had been instrumental in the murder
of their parents. The destruction of the mis-
sion was complete. The murder of its numerous
occupants had been brought about in the most
eflfective way, showing clearly the existence of a
well matured plot on the part of the Indians and
their advisers.

When word of the uprising and massacre
reached Oregon Gity, the Governor ordered a levy
of troops and in twenty-four hours a company of
forty-two men were on their way to the Dalles,
where fugitives from all the missions above were
coming. Here the troops remained for the pur-
pose of guarding the passage of fugitives and re-
stored captives to safe places below, while
awaiting rennforcements, till February 1848.
Being re-inforced, Captain Lee sent a scouting
party against the Des Chutes, the nearest of the
hostiles, which defeated them in a battle on Feb-
ruary 28. The main body of 160 trooi)s moved
toward Wailatpu, near which they met a strongj

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J»

THB SHOSHONE UPRISING.

body of Indians. A desperate battle was fought
in which the Indians lost 20 warriors and 40
horses, together with all their goods.

As the troops proceeded, the French Canadian
leader, Finlay, who managed the massacre at
Wailatpu, attempted to entrap them by a pretence
of peace. He had about 500 Indians at his dis-
posal, and the Americans could only advance by
keeping close in line. They literally fought their
way to Wailatpu, where they established a fort
and called on the adjoining tribes to come in for a
talk. The Nez Perces and most of the Ca3nises
came and were prompt to disavow participation in
the massacre. Chief Joseph, of the Nez Perces,
promised to deliver up all the murderers found in
his tribe. Those who remained hostile in the
neighboring tribes were pursued by the troops
and defeated in repeated battles. They were
finally driven into the neighboring mountains
and back into the Nez Perces country, with the
loss of many of their warriors and most of their
cattle. The troops remained at the various forts
they had* established during the year 1848, and
the tribes of the murderers were forced to pursue
a wandering life in the mountain gorges, not dar-
to return to their homes. This state of affairs
continued during 1849 ^^^ ^^5^ ^^ ^^ latter*

TEA SHOSHO^B UPKISWa d3

year they purchased peace by surrendering five of
the murderous chiefs, who were tried and hung.
All the mission houses at Wailatpu were burned
by the Indians, and to-day mounds of earth mark
their site. On the hillside is the common grave
of the victims. The position of the garden is
marked by a few fruit trees and clusters of the
flowers planted by those who passed away, ere
civilization could give them its guarantee of
peace and safety.

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WARS WITH THE CALIFORNIA TRIBttS.

Chaptbr in.

WARS WITH THE CALIFORNIA TRIBES.

1 I fUILE the Oregon volunteers were still at
^^ the Dalles in defence of their homes,
gold was discovered in pa3ring quanti-
ties at Mormon Island and in Sutter's mill race
in California. In a trice all California was mad,
and the gold craze spread all over the United
States. A flood of emigration by land and sea
poured into the gold coasts of the Pacific The
year 1849 became historic and the forty-niner a
character in the tragedy and comedy of the
times.

The flood of emigration, the crush of enter-
prise, the selfishness of greed, the cruelty of
acquisition, under the circumstances, proved to
be greater evils for the Indians than even the
discovery of Columbus and the Spanish occupa-
tion. Gold miners had no patience with Indians.
They would ransack the mountains in search of
claims. They would kill all who interfered with
their supposed rights. The Indian knew this,
and as a rule ^^ vacated the ranche'' on a single
warning. If he stood for his rights, the policy
of the Government was to get rid of him as

quickly as possible by buying him out, so as to
avoid bloodshed.

Generally speaking the Indians of California
were not fighters. The Yrekas in the north
were brave and gave much trouble, but the tribes
to the south lacked union and spirit The entire
Indian population did not exceed 30,000, of whom
not over half were classed as wild Indians. The
first clash with the California Indians came at
Mormon Island, and it was instigated by miners,
who perhaps sought an occasion to teach their
hostile neighbors what they might expect if they
did not clear the way for exploration and occu-
pancy. It was a cruel " set-to" which resulted
fatally to a number on both sides, but which re-
suited in impressing the Indians with the con-
viction that the vicinity of a gold mining camp,
was the least desirable place in the world for
their own camps.

As miners pushed their way into the moun-
tains and mining camps became thick in the
gulches and valleys, the difficulties with the In-
dians increased. Skirmishes became frequent,
but as a rule the Indians were marauders and
cattle thieves, rather than open, organized warri-
ors. They were "pestiferous,** as the mining
phrase went, and in this respect were Jiore

objects of malice than if they had been regularly !/>

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^ WARS WITH THE CAUFOSLNIA TRIBBa

on the warpath. The Governiriexit hearkened to
the calls for aid to put them down. It could not
send troops so fiair, but it sent 100,000 arms.
The miners quickly formed a local militia and
would, no doubt, have made a war of extermina-
tion upon the Indians of the Territory, had not
the Government in a spirit of humanity, hit on
the plan of treating with them and giving them
a place on reservations. Most of the tribes took
their places gladly on reservations, but some of
the mountain tribes either feared to come in or
preferred the freedom of their mountain fast*
nesses.

These were treated as hostiles, and the impro-
vised militia of California quickly, made war upon
them. The California wars of 1851-52 were
chiefly those brought about by eflforts to catch
these hostiles and corral them on reservations.
The hostiles of the San Joaquin Valley were
hunted down and brought to terms by the cele-
brated Mariposa Battalion. Jose Rey , chief of the
ChowchiUas, was defeated in several engagements
and finally lost his life in a battle which deter-
mined the fate of his tribe. The Yosemites, or
"Grizaly Bears,** who lived in the wonderful
canon valley which perpetuates their name,
were brave warriors by repute, but when con-
fronted by the militia they o£fered little resist-

WARS WITH THE CALIFORNIA TRIBES.

ance. The wars in and around Sacramento
Valley amounted to but little more than a sue*
cession of skirmishes. By 1853 the California
tribes were pretty generally subdued and driven
on to the five reservations set apart for them.
These reservations were badly managed by the
Government agents, who drew plentiful supplies
from the Government but gave the Indians none.
The consequence was the reservations fell into dis-
repute and were practically abandoned. White
settlers took mean advantage of the absence of the
Indians, the latter having been forced into a
nomadic life and having become more thievish
and cowardly than ever before. Every Indian
theft, every attempt on their part to scout and
hve, or to come back on their reservations to as-
sert their rights, became a cause for war upon
them, and it is quite probable that more perished
in the difficulties which thus arose, than in all
the prior eflforts to conquer them. Over 150
Indians were massacred by the white settlers at
Nome Cult in 1858, the only excuse being that
they had driven oflF the cattle of the settlers from
the reservation, because they were consuming the
acorns on which the Indians depended for food. .
At King's River the Indians were shot down
by scores, and driven away because the Govern-
ment would not support them and ^they had bcL

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3$ WAItS WITH THB CALIFORNIA TRIBBS.

come suiuisance. In these humanitarian efforts
to exterminate the natives^ the settlers had the
support of the State militia and there was no
sentiment against this kind of murder. At
Mattole Station and Humboldt Bay, similar mas-
sacres took place and there was no mercy shown
to a refractory Indian. The next morning after the
massacre at Humboldt Bay, sixty corpses of In-
dian men, women, boys and girls, showed how
impious had been their refus^ to go off to the
then secluded region of Mendocino.

The character of the California settlers, gath-
ered from all the ends of the earth, inspired by
greed, with a golden stake in hand, was such as
to mdce the Indian wars of California frequent,
short and decisive. They were wars which in-
volved excessive cruelty, yrsxa of extermination.
The miners were a society by themselves, and a
unit in their own protection. There was, of
course, a powerful necessity for protection, as was
shown not only in their wars with Indians, but in
those stem measures which became the code of
justice of their " Vigilance Committees.** They
were really at war with themselves, and peace
and the reign of law came only after the rope had
taught many of their own number, the same
lessons their shotguns had impressed on the
Indians.

Chapter IV.
A YUMA MASSACRE.

THE Indian tribes of Arizona and the line of
the Colorado River, have ever been an in-
teresting study. Two large nations, of
which the Yuma is one, were agricultural
and peaceful. They came early under the in-
fluence of the Spanish, and proved useful as a
bulwark against the fierce and powerful Apaches.
But there were blendings of these tribes with the
bolder and wilder Apaches, with the result that
many degraded tribes arose, which possessed the
virtues of neither, but fof whose actions one or
the other of the leading tribes had to be responsi-
ble. Thus a dangerous and freebooting tribe,
called Tontos, was allied by birth to both the
Yumas and Apaches, and if they committed an
outrage, it was either a Yuma or Apache outrage,
according to the interest either had in it, or the
apology offered for it.

As a rule these tribes, excepting the dreaded
Apaches, succumbed to the authority of the
United States, after the Mexican Conquest and

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40 A YUMA MASSACRB.

the Gadsden purchase, without open war. So
that while there are no startling records of hostili*
ties in their midst, there are several thrilling
accounts of massacres. The one which led to
the complete subjugation of the Arizona tribes,
always excepting the Apaches, is a sample of
many. In 1850 a party composed of eighty em-
igrants, men, women and children, started for
Arizona, intending to locate within the protective
range of Ft Yuma, then a military camp at the
junction of the Gila with the Colorado.

By the time this party reached the junction of
the north and south roads near Santa Fe, they
became so divided by religious dissensions that
they split; one faction taking the northern, the
other the southern route. By the close of the
year the southern party reached Tucson, where
they were gladly received by the Mexican citizens,
who were greatly alarmed at the excesses of
the Apaches. A part of the party agreed to
settle there temporarily. The rest, embracing
three families, the largest of which was the Oat-
man family, started on across the ^^ ninety mile
desert** After many escapes from roving
Apache bands they reached the country of the
Pimas, where they found rest The Pimas had,
however) but little food for strangers, and the
Oatman family, in a spirit of desperation started

A YUMA MASSACRB.

alone for Ft Yuma. After crossing the desert of
Gila Bend and striking the Gila, the roads became
almost impassable.

On a certain day, while struggling with their
difl&cult situation, unloading their wagon at the
foot of steep hills and carrying their goods upon
their shoulders, so that their starved oxen might
be able to take the empty wagon up, they saw
evidences of Indians about them. The next day
as they broke camp, at the head of a little valley
of the Gila which is to this day known as Oat-
man Flat^ they were suddenly surrounded by a
troop of Tonto Indians armed with bows and
arrows and dubs. Knowing that a show of fear
would be fatal, Oatman assured his family and
co-^Uy asked the miscreants to sit down for a talk.
He passed pipes and tobacco, and each one took
awhiflfofamity. The Oatman family, mean-
while, kept up their preparations for the onward
march as if unconcerned about results. This
gave the Indians opportunity to gauge the
strength of the party. They asked for food.
Oatman told them he had barely enough to sus-
tain his family till it reached Ft Yuina. They
did not accept his excuse, but grew clamorous
and angry. In order to appease them Oatman
dividedhis little store with them. They demanded

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49 A YUMA ICASSACRB.

more, which Oatman refused, not wishing to rob
his family entirely.

The Indians drew off, held a hurried consulta-
tion, scanned the horizon to see that no help was
near, and then with wild yells rushed upon the
helpless family with their merciless clubs.
Oatman was beaten to the ground and his skull
crushed by repeated blows of the clubs. His
son, Lorenzo, a boy of twelve years, received
repeated blows which rendered him insensible.
Mrs. Oatman leaped from the wagon and clasped
her youngest child, a boy of two years, to her
bosom. The savages dashed upon her and beat
out the life of mother and child together. The
daughter Lucy was beaten into a shapeless mass
and left an unrecognizable corpse on the bloody
soil. Another daughter of four years, was simi*
larly dispatched. A brother of six years, was
the next to fall. Two daughters, Olive and
Mary, were spared to become captives. After
the massacre was complete, the camp was plun-
dered. Seeing signs of life in the prostrate
Lorenzo, the miscreants stripped him of his
clothing and threw his body down over a pile
of rugged rocks. It rolled helpless on to plat*
form at the base, full twenty feet below, where it
lay through the following night and until the
next day. Then consciousness slowly returned.

A YUMA MASSACRB.

He opened his eyes to find the sun shining full
in his face. He wiped the clotted blood from his
face, felt that his scalp had been torn oflF, straight-
ened his crooked and stiffened limbs, and gazed
about him to find out where he was. The blood-
stained rocks over which he had been thrown
told him how he had come there, and soon the
terrible memory of the day before rushed in on
his dazed brain. After a painful struggle, he
gained his feet, and under a frenzied impulse
crawled up the rocks to the scene of the massa^
ere. The broken wagon, the remnants of goods
strewn around, the ghastly faces of murdered
parents, brothers and sisters, proved to be too
much for him. He sank in a faint, and when he
recovered his only thought was to escape a repe.
tition of the dreadful sight He dragged his
pain racked form down toward the Gila, drank of
its muddy waters, bathed his bruised body therein,
and then crawled away to a cover, where he passed
a day and night in sleep.

Finding himself able to walk with the aid of a
stick, but being yet too delirious to judge of
direction, he started he knew not whither. By
mid-day he reached a pool of warm aud muddy
water, by the side of which he lay down and drank,
only to fall asleep again in the sunshine. This

rest gave him additional strength ai

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44 A YUHA MA8SAC&B.

liis jonrneyi still ignorant of the direction bnt
conscious that he was traversing a barren table-
land. By nightfall he dropped in a faint from
which he was aroused by the barking and growl-
ing of coyotes around him. Starting up with a
yell and making such demonstration as he could
with his stick, he drove the hungry beasts back
and took up his slow and painful march. To his
horror, he found they were following him. He
drove them off with stones, but could not escape
the horrid thought that he might drop down any
moment through sheer exhaustion and thus be-
come a prey to them.

The next day he found himself in the midst of
a lonely canon, and confronted by two Indians,
who hastily drew their bows at sight of him. He
raised his hand in surrender and spoke. They
proved to be Pimas and friendly. When he told
them of the massacre, they gave him some food
and started for the scene, leaving him a blanket
to sleep on and telling him to remain there till
they came back. He did not know how long they
would be gone, so after a refreshing sleep and a
dread on awakening that they might prove treach-
erous, he clambored to the plain above and started
on his unknown journey, taking rest and sleep
wherever a guarded spot offered itself. One morn-
ing in looking across the plain he saw objects

A YUMA MASSACRB.

moving. THey were rising an incline and when
they appeared fully in view on top, he was rejoiced
to find that they were wagons. He swooned
through joy, and when he came to consciousness,
the wagons of the two families left behind in
Tucson were standing by him. He was refreshed
with bread and milk, given clothing and his
wounds were dressed. When he told his terrible
story his friends retraced their steps to the Pimas,
until they could be reinforced by other emigrants..
These soon came, and then the reinforced party
made its way to Fort Yuma, where Lorenzo was
nursed back to health.

The Indian murderers made their way to the
north of the Gila with their white captives, Olive
and Mary Oatman. Their journey northward
was one of great hardship. They were treated
with savage crudty and reduced to the condition
of slaves. In 1851, a party of Mohaves visited
the camp of the captors, and became the purchasers
of the captives. Their condition was now much
bettered, though they were still slaves. In a
short while death came to Mary's relief, and Olive
was left to bear her fate alone for a period of five
years. In the midst of her despair at ever being
rescued or making her escape, she was rejoiced
one morning at finding a Yuma messenger from

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A YUMA MA8SACRB.

the Fort, in the midst of the tribe and with a de-
mand for her release.

The rescne came about through Lorenzo.
When he told his story at the fort, Colonel
Heintzelman sent out several searching parties
in vain. Soon after his forces were withdrawn,
except a guard for the ferry. The Yumas drove
this guard away and entered into a conspiracy to
drive all Americans out of Arizona and Southern
California. Colonel Heintzelman was returned
with a larger force, and after a year of arduous
and exciting work succeeded in reducing the Yu-
mas to subjection and breaking up the conspiracy.
Meanwhile Lorenzo had gone to California and
drifted thence to Los Angeles. Here he learned
that his sisters had been bought by the Mohaves,
and he tried to interest the authorities in their
rescue. This was in 1856. One man at Fort
Yuma, the carpenter there, never lost his interest
in the captives. He had as a bosom friend one
Francisco, an Indian, who knew the terrorism in-
spired in his race by the show of power which
Heintzelman^s troopers had made. The carpen-
ter and Francisco talked over the story of the
captives as Lorenzo had learned, and Francisco
agreed to rescue them, if the commander at the
Fort would give him some goods as purchase
monqr and agree to stand by him. This was

A YUMA MASSACRB.

brought about and Francisco started on his peri-
lous mission. He held conference after confer-
ence with the chiefs, who stubbornly refused to
surrender their captive, till Francisco made known
to them that final refusal would bring upon
them the full force of the United States troops,
and that both Mohaves and Yumas would be
wiped from the face of the earth.

They finally yielded to his arguments and
Olive, after recovering from a faint occasioned by
joy, was placed in charge of a delegation of the .
tribe which was authorized to deliver her in
safety at the Fort, and receive the additional pres-
ents promised by Francisco. Her arrival was
greeted by the troops with cheers and firing of ,
cannon. Even the assembled' Yumas, who had
been trembling lest failure to make the rescue
should bring on their heads the punishment
threatened by Francisco, joined in the demonstra.
tions of joy.

There was soon a more aflFecting meeting.
Lorenzo was sent for to come to the Fort. Ten
days of hard riding brought him to the embrace of
his long lost sister. Tears streamed down the
cheeks of the sturdy witnesses of a meeting
which recalled the bloody separation of five years
before, and th^ hardship and despair of everv
moment since. The two lived in Califomia fo^^

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4t A YUMA MA88ACIt&

some years and then went east Francisca was
made a chief by the Yumas, at the instigation of
the whites. But he never secured their confi-
dence, and could not prevent the Yuma and
Mohave conspiracy, in 1857, against the Pimas
and Maricopas, in which nearly all the Yuma
warriors perished, Francisco himself being
among them.

Chapter V.

THE ROGUE RIVER WARS.

I I /hen Oregon was organized as a Territory
\J^ in 1848, General Joe Lane was made Gov-
ernor. Oregon was then an immense
territory, embracing all the lands west of the
Rocky Mountains, north of 42 degrees of latitude.
Along its southern border were several tribes of
hostile Indians— the Rogue Rivers, the Klamaths,
the Modocs, the Shastas and Umpquas. None of
these tribes had ever been friendly to the whites.
The Umpquas had murdered eleven out of a tra-
ding party of fourteen men in 1834. A trading
party of eight were attacked by the Rogue River
Indians in 1835, and four of them killed. The
Klamaths attacked Fremont's exploring expedi-
tion in 1845, and killed three of them before
Kit Carson's skill could baffle the onslaught in
a hand to hand conflict.

In 185 1, the Rogue River Indians became so
bold in their excursions, and these had become
so frequent and deadly, that the Government
was compelled to intervene. It sent Major Phil.
Kearney to the scene, with a detachment of

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50 THE ROGUE RIVER WARS.

t^^^ars. After manoeuvreiiig for some time, he
succeeded in bringing on an engagement in
which he administered an unmerciful drubbing
to the enemy. But this was not sufficient They
mustered new forces and courage, and stood for
a second attack. This time Kearney resolved
that the lesson of defeat should be efifective. He
got his men in good position, kept them well in
hand and fought them so determinedly, that the
enemy took to hasty flight toward the mountains,
leaving a large number of their squaws and
papooses in the hands of the victors. Governor
Lane made the return of the captives the con*
ditions of a peace which lasted for two years.

But the neighboring tribes were not so easily
pacified. The Pitt River tribe massacred the
engineers of a wagon road in 1852, and in
the same year the Modocs attacked and shot
down an emigrant party of thirty-three persons.
This was the signal for open hostilities, and
volunteer companies were organized and ordered
to rendevous at Tule Lake. On the arrival of a
California company a bloody battle took place,
the Indians being on the lake in their canoes.
They fought savagely but at a decided disadvan**
tage, and were soon forced to retire out of range
of the riflemen on the shore. The next day the
victon discovered the remains of many murdered

THE ROOUB RIVER WARS.

emigrants on the shores of the Lake.

Soon the California force was augmented by
Oregon companies, and together they held the
ground for many months, affording protection
to emigrants and making occasional raids on
the hostiles. However necessary this campaign
may have been, its close brought no credit to the
white soldiers. It is narrated that Captain
Wright, who commanded the California forces,
invited the Modoc warriors to a feast at which
he tried to poison them. Finding his ruse a fail-
urehe turned the feast into a talk, amid which
he grew angry and shot down two of his guests
with his revolver. At this signal, his men rose
up and fired their freshly loaded rifles into the
assemblage, killing thirty-six outright The
remainder made their escape, but with such
memory of treachery as that in future years,
many times that number of white soldiers had to
offer their lives in payment, and the Government
had to forfeit millions of dollars for campaigning

purposes.

On the return of Captain Wright to Yreka,
he was welcomed by the citizens, but his venge-
ful visitation was not forgotten, for four years
afterwards he was set upon by the Rogue Rivers
at his agency and killed, together with 23 of his

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*» THB &OGUS &IVBR WAKS.

men. Hi, bad faith bo« its fruits with the
entire Modoc people for years.

In California and Oregon, in those days the
Government did not recognize the right of tlie
Indian to toeat for the sale of lands or for a reser-
vation. The whites could squat where they
pleased, do what they pleased, provoke war
It they pleased and then call upon the
troops for protection. As a rule the Oregon
- Indians were not unfriendly. The Whitman mas.
saoe was almost the only serious demonstration
of hostility they had made. But when they saw
their lands taken without compensation and their
treaties nullified, they lost confidence and hecame
more and more hostile. The Rogue Rivers
became particularly irritable in 1853, and carried
on almost constant war in their valley. General
Lane was sent against them and fought a doubt-
ful battle with a large force near Table Rock. He
secured a treaty which lasted but a short while
for mutual murders soon became the rule and
massacre followed massacre in quick succession.
It was evident, from the standpoint ofthe whites,
that nothmg but closely organized effort would
suffice to teach the Indians the lesson they
•eemedtostandianeedof The Indians, on the
«her hand having a common grievance, and"
bemgactuated by a common dread of losing

TBB ROOUS KIVBR WAIta

their lands altogether, through the encroachment
of the whites, began to combine their strength.
Leschi, a Nasqualla chief, preached a crusade
against the whites, among all the tribes from the
British borders to California, and infected them
all with his hostility, except the Nez Perces.

The impatient tribes of the North opened the
contest in 1855. The Yakimas murdered a party
interested in coal mining on the Dwamish. The
Indian agent at the Dalles was murdered by the
same tribe. Two forces were sent against them,
to be united in their country, but before they
could unite, one of them was set upon, and driven
back. The other was surrounded in a disadvan-
tageous position, and only succeeded in escaping
after great hardship. A stronger force 0/350
regulars was organized and sent forward under
Major Rains, but it could make no impression on
the wily foe.

In the south, the whites were to blame for pre-
cipitating war by a cowardly attack on Old Sam's
band of friendly Rogue Rivers, and the murder
of several old men and helpless women and
children. This foolish and cruel action inflamed
the entire tribe, and as a consequence it began a
campaign of indiscriminate burnings and mup>
ders, the most noted of which was the "Wagoner

massacre." The troops, whetb

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TRB ROGUB RIVBR WARS.

militia, retaliated in kind, and a warfare so indis-
criminate and brutal as that which followed has
never disgraced our annals. This was equally
true in the south and in the north. The per-
vading policy on the part of the whites was In-
dian extermination, now and forever. The wars
of 1855 s^^ ^^ lustre on the arms of the whites.
They only served to force the Indians into closer ''
union and inspire them with a burning desire
for revenge.

A change of policy came under General Wool
who was made commander of the Department
of the Pacific. He did not believe in the policy
of extermination, nor in the employment of State
volunteers, mostly settlers, who had their private
grievances and revenges. He concentrated his
army of regulars at Fort Vancouver, used a part
of them for the protection of friendly Indians
against white aggressors, and disposed the re-
mainder so as to render warfare intelligent and
void of brutality. But the State volunteers made
capipaigns on their own responsibility and with
continued loss of prestige. The bitterness be*
tween the policies of extermination and of civil*
ired wzx&xe was nearly as great as that between
the red and white foemen. As a result of the
dash between the two policies, neither regulars

1:'

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THfl &OGUB K.IVSR WARS.

nor volunteers did anjrtliing of importance, "while
the Indians secured several successes.

On February 22d. 1856, while the volunteers
were attending a " Washington Birthday ball"
on Rogue River, they were surprised, and Captain
Wright and 23 others were killed. All the ranches ,
on the river were sacked and burned. Later on,
General Wool got his forces in hand. He passed
the Cascades of the Columbia on his way to the
Dalles, leaving at the Middle Cascades a small
force. Scarcely had he passed, when the Indians
attacked this force, protected by the block house
there, and kept up an unequal battle for a
day and a night, murdering, meanwhile, all the
citizens they found in exposed places. Word of
this "Cascade Massacre" reached Colonel Wright,
in command of the advanced forces, and he re-
turned to find that even the friendly Cascade
Indians had turned against the whites and had
induced the massacre. The leaders were tried by
court martial and hung.

Colonel Wright then advanced again, leaving
a stronger force at the Cascades, under Lieuten-
ant Phil. Sheridan. Colonel Wright soon met the
hostiles, of many tribes and in a force estimated
at i,200 warriors. His own force did not exceed
475 eflFectives, but it was well supplied and held
a position which cut the Indians off from the

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THB ROGUB RIVBR WAHa

river and the lands they had depended on for
subsistance. Neither party cared to risk an open
engagement The summer passed in a series of
parleys, in which many chiefs surrendered and
agreed to live in peace.

The troops in the south were pursuing a simi-
lar policy, though with a more pugnacious foe.
Chief Jolm^s band of Rogue Rivers surrounded
Captain Smith's force of 90 men, supported by a
howitzer, and would have compelled their sur*
render, with the massacre it implied, had not a
timely reinforcement come to the rescue and
dashed into the besiegers, routing them with
heavy loss. All the while, the friendly Indians
were being gathered on to reservations, which
began to grow in favor as an asylum for such
hostiles as were tired of warfare. John's band
surrendered on condition that it should escape
punishment and be given a place on a reserva-
tion. This action was followed by a surrender
of nearly all the Lower Rogue Rivers on the
same terms. The northern tribes caught the
spirit of surrender and readily found places on
lands dedicated to them forever. Military sta-
tions ivere established among the tribes, each
well equipped and officered, and with instructions
to deal £rmly but justly with all within their
jurisdicdoxL

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THB ROGXm RIVBR WARS.

Bv I8S7 peace reigned throughout the Oregon
reeion. «id more had been accomplished toward
bringing it about in the last y^^^'"" *^^
two ytL before. While the loss of life had not
been as great as in some other Indian wars, the
destruction of property had been enormous.
Costly as it had been to the settlers, it was even
more so to the Government.

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Chapter VI.
WAR WITH THE CHEYENNES.

SHE Arrapalioes are native to tbat immense
tract east of the mountains and between
the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. The.
Cheyennes were driven into the same region from
the east of the Mississippi by the powerful Sioux.
The Sioux themselves came to occupy the country
north of the Platte. All of these tribes are
strong and warlike. They are made up of sev-
eral smaller tribes, the Sioux alone embracing
seven families or tribes.

From the earliest days of settlement west of
the Mississippi these Indians made war on the
whites. In 184 1 a battle between trappers and
the combined warriors of the Cheyennes and
Sioux was fought on Snake River, with terrible
loss on both sides. Fremont, on his several ex-
peditions, found them hostile, but avoided trouble
by threatening them with the vengeance of the
^^Great Father'' in case they molested him. In
1845, Colonel Kearney awed them into good be-
havior by an ostentatious parade of his dragoons

WAR WTTH THB CHBYBNNBa

and howitzers. In 1847, the Kio\m, Apaches,
Pawnees and Comanches were in coalition
against the whites. They asked the Cheyennes
to join, but they were intimidated by the timely
arrival of two cavalry, companies under Colonel

Gilpin.

In 1854 a coalition was formed of Cheyennes
and Arrapahoes, and war broke out, begun by the
Sioux. The first engagement was with Lieuten-
ant Grattan and his command near Fort Laramie.
A force of Brule^ioux warriors under their chief,
Bear, were fired upon by Grattans's, soldiers who in
turn were exterminated. The Indians menaced
Fort Laramie for a few days, but departed on the ar-
rival of reinforcements from Fort Riley; Bear was
killed, and his successor was Little Thunder, a
daring chief, who never failed to strike the whites
a blow when opportunity occurred. He destroyed
several mail parties and killed Captain Gibson
and many of his men. In 1855, General Harney
marched from Fort Leavensworth with 1300 men
to the scene of hostilities. The General was an
uncompromising Indian hater and fighter, and
he came to teach them a lesson. He reached
Fort Kearney in safety, and continued his jour-
ney to Ash Hollow, where he learned that the
Brules were encamped in force. Harney pre-
pared for an attack. He sent a cavalry force to
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6o WAR WITH THB CHBYBKNBS.

cut off tlie rear of tbe Indian forces, and then ad*
vanced with his infantry. When Little Thunder
came forward to parley, Harney received him
coldly. Little Thunder returned to his warriors,
who soon discovered that their retreat was cut off.
Amid the commotion which followed this discov-
ery, Harney ordered his infantry to advance fir-
ing. They dashed forward with wild yells, and
mowed down the Indians as they rushed onward.
The Indian forces could not withstand the furious
onset and broke fleeing to the bluff, leaving be-
hind all their traps. The cavalry pursued them
and kept them in disastrous flight for eight or
ten miles, killing many. The Indian losses num-
bered over an hundred, many of whom were women
and children. Their loss of tents, provisions,
robes and utensils was total. Such a blow had
never been struck at these powerful tribes of the
plains and the lesson was valuable. They sur-
rendered the murderers they were harboring, and
agreed to be peaceable in the future. Harney
was censured for killing women and children, but
justified himself in the eyes of his accusers, and
was promoted by President Buchanan.

Though this blow crushed the Sioux, it had no
effect on the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes. The
Kansas political troubles were now on, and the
troops were needed in that Territory in 1856.

i
1

WAR WITH THB CHBYBNNBS.

«(

Immunity from punishment made these tribes
bolder. They kept up constant war on emigrants
and mail parties. At length a company under
Captain Stuart met a marauding force near Fort
Kearney and defeated it with heavy loss. This
seemed to incite the Indians to worse barbarities,
andattacks and murders were frequent all through
1856. In 1857 a large cavalry force under Col-
onel Sumner was sent against them. He came
upon a force of 300 Indians in the Valley of Solo-
mon's Fork, and immediately charged them.
The Indians broke and fled, but escaped after a
five-mile chase, owing to the freshness and fleet-
ness of their ponies. The losses on either side
were not heavy, but the eflfect of the scare
was to break the Indian force up into small parties
and thus prevent danger from organized action.

There was comparative quiet in the Cheyenne
and Arrapahoe region for two or three years,
when the Government was relieved of all responsi-
bility for keeping peace, by the arrival of settlers.
The cry of gold discovery in the Rockies brought
thither a flood of adventurers, similar to the influx
into California in 1849. *^^^^ promiscuous and
rude adventurers commanded a respect from the
Indians which the Government could not enforce.
Inside of three years, there were 80,000 whites in

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6j war with thb chbybmkbs.

ganized war on the part of the Indians, yet, strange
to say, of a kind of whom the Indians never com-
plained* It may be that their engagements in the
past with the forces of the United States, had im-
pressed them with the futility of contending
against skill and numbers, but it is more than
likely that geography had more to do with it than
force. The gold hunters occupied the region which
divided the mountain tribes from those of the
plain, so that hostiles on either side sought their
friendship and thus acquired arms and ammuni-
tion with which to fight each other.

In 1861, the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes made a
celebrated treaty with the Government in which
they gave away the most desirable of their lands to
Colorado settlers, and in addition the right of the
public to lay out roads and highways across their
own lands. They never dreamed that they had
given the right to build a railroad through their
country. But when the Kansas Pacific projectors
began to invade the reserve lands with its rails, a
new cause of hostility was found, and the troubles
of 1864 began.

Chapter VIL
NAVAJO HOSTILITIES.

THE Navajos dwell in the northwest angle of
New Mexico and the northeast angle of
Arizona. They were ascribed to the fierce
Apaches by the Spaniards, but are really
a link between them and the better civilized
Pueblos, ifnot descendants of the latter. They are
a well proportioned, finely grown, fair counten-
anced people, who dwell in grass covered huts,
and devote themselves to pasturage and crude
agriculture. They dress better than the average
Indian and go armed with lance and shield very
like ancient Grecians or Romans. They manufac-
ture all their clothing and blankets, and the latter
are a wonder for beauty of design and artistic
finish. They are acquainted with the smelting
of metals and the production of pottery.

In war they do not scalp an enemy, and in
taste are like the Jews in the respect that they
abhor bear and hog meat They respect their
wives, and womankind is not subject to drudgery
as with other Indians, though young girls unite

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NAVAJO HOSTIUTIBd.

the part of shepherd with that of weaving.
Their only, god, Whai^la-hay, is a female, to
whom their knowledge of weaving and pottery
is due. The one condition of salvation is that
the deceased has treated his wife well. They
numbered 20,000 beings when their territory was
acquired by the United States, and 2,000 war-
riors. They had no government, but seemed to
be an aggregation of peaceful families, each left
to do as it pleased. When our Government
came to treat with them it found nothing to treat
with, and when it imposed such terms as seemed
necessary for future amicable relations there was
no body to make it binding. Moreover they
indulged the infatuation that they were superior
in numbers to the white race. In addition they
had fought Spaniards and Mexicans for centuries
and with success. Under all these conditions
it was easy for the United States to make a mis-
take in dealing with them. This mistake it did
make when General Kearney assumed that in
conquering New Mexico, and engaging in gen-
eral stipulations he had also treated with the
Navajos.

While a detachment of our troops were visit-
ing the Rio Grande region, magnifying their
strength and sealing treaties with a show of force,
they were suddenly swooped down upon by the

NAVAJO HOSTU^ITIBS*

Navajos and deprived of all their cattle and
stores. This audacity called for an expedition
against them. It ientered their country in two
columns and forced them into submission with-
out bloodshed; but it no sooner left than every
Navajo felt at liberty to do as he pleased again.
In 1847 another expedition was sent against
them, but it did not even succeed in making a
treaty. In 1848, another was sent which simply
repeated the experience of the first In 2849,
a fourth expedition was fitted out, accompanied
by a force of 150 friendly Navajos. It joined
battle with the hostiles in the Canon de Chelly,
the result of which was the death of a leading
chief and several warriors. A treaty was made,
but it proved no more binding than former ones.
They were at large again as soon as force failed
to confront them.

In 1852 Colonel Sumner marched against
them and built Fort Defiance in the heart of their
country. This was a master stroke. It impressed
them with the resources of the whites, and se-
cured peace for two years. But the plundering
habits of the tribe reasserted themselves, and
they grew to be as big a nuisance as ever. The
tribe as a whole was not to blame, for having no
internal government it could not restrain its
vicious members, as its better port^n

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U KAVAJO H0STIUT1B3.

Its marauders finally grew bold enough to carry
their depredations and even their murders to the
very limits of the Fort. Having gathered about
it in numbers, they were attacked by the troops
under Colonel Miles and driven off. Colonel
Miles then pursued them and carried consterna-
tion through the Navajo country. He was
attacked in the Canon de Chelly by Indians on.
the summits, but they could do no harm with
their arrows. At the mouth of the canon he was
met by Chief Nak*risk-thaw-nee, with proposals
of peace. The answer was, " no peace until every
Navajo murderer is delivered over for trial.**
The troops moved on, capturing sheep and dev-
astating corn-fields, and finally returned to the
Fort loaded with booty. It was thought that this
devastating warfare would prove more efiective
than the killing of the foe. But they were pre-
pared to stand it, for a while at least

Soon after another expediton of 60 men start-
ed out under Captain Hatch. It came up with
the Indians under Sardllo Largo and battle was
joined. The fighting was fierce for a time but
finally the chief fell and his followers fled, leav^
ing behind six dead warriors and all their camp
effects. This was the first battle in which the
Navajos were known to use firearms, which they
handled awkwardly. The Mormons were held

NAVAJO HOSTltmSS.

;

responsible for having furnished them with these
improved weapons.

Word now came in that the Navajos had been
induced by the Mormons to join the Pi-Utes in a
war of extermination against the Americans.
Colonel Miles, therefore, started on a scout with
300 men, and on the first day came on a body of
hostiles which he dispersed, capturing their
horses and sheep. A detachment of 126 meii
was sent to attack Ka-ya*ta-na's camp in a canon
fifteen miles distant. They charged down the
steep sides of the canon, stampeded the Indians,
and captured 20 horses and 4000 sheep.

It was now clear that the Navajos could not be
reduced by numbers, for no numbers could be
effective in their broken country. The hostiles
could not be brought to a stand and they were .
agile in escape. But they were usually accom-
panied by their herds and of these they could be
deprived. They were also dependent on their
fields of wheat and vegetables, and these could
be destroyed. So it was determined to keep up
a series of expeditions against them and give
them no time for repose. With this object in view
Major Brook circled through their country, fight-
ing often, but having only one pitched battle, in
which the Ihdiauj lost 25 warriors. In return
for this the Navajos attacked the front herd andjp

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KAVAJO H08TXUTlBa

succeeded in killing two men and running away
with 64 horses and mules. This induced Colonel
Miles to start with 260 soldiers and 150 volun-
teer Zani against the hostiles, who Were found
and attackedi with the loss of few men and the
capture of 250 horses. A similar expedition
under Lieut Howland made even a larger cap-
ture.

More extensive scouts were planned and ready
to start, when the Navajos sued for peace. This
kind of warfare was more than they could stand,
they could not be ever running about to escape
destruction, while their flocks and means of sub-
sistance were being gradually lost to them.
Satisfactory terms were agreed upon and such a
peace as could be had with the disjointed Navajos
was ratified.

This peace lasted, Mrith unimportant interrup-
tions, till x86i, when it was broken by the fight
at Fort Fauntleroy. This was a scrimmage
between the soldiers and Indians at a horse race,
at which animosities were engendered which led to
an attack by the soldiers and a massacre of sevenil
Navajos, including their women and children.
When it was seen that the soldiers were to blame
peace messengers were sent to the Indians, but
they returned with the response that the Navajos
had given Uiem a severe flogging. This of course

('
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HAVAJO HOSTILITXBS. 69

meant war. A force was sent against them and
a battle ensued, in which the hostiles suflfered
severely. A temporary peace was patched up,
only to be broken by raids and stealings; to all
requests to come to permanent terms they invar-
iablly answered, "You,** (the whites), ** keep us
in such a state of tumult, we cannot raise cattle
or crops on which to live, therefore we are forced
to steal.** In a year (1861^2), they drove oflF
100,000 head of sheep, 1,000 head of cattle,
besides horses and mules. They also killed
many persons without regard to age or sex.

In September, 1862, a formidable militia force
was organized against them, with a view to ex-
termination, but its operations were checked by
the Government, because such a force never
stopped to discriminate between friendly and
hostile Indians. At length General Carleton
decided to apply the reservation policy; he said,
" they have no internal Government with which
to make a treaty binding. They are patriarchal
like Abraham of old, oiie set of families may
promise, another may violate. They understand
force, butif force be removed they become lawless.
They should be collected in groups away from
their mountains and hiding places, and should
be taught to read and write, and to know the
truths of Christianity.** Bravdy saidL but the

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NAVAjQ Bosnunsa

^culty was to get at these agile people, or if
that were poss^le, to separate the hostiks^from
the peaceful. He notified them of his project
and gave them till a certain day to aoipt, all '
who failed were to be regarded as hostile.
A large number accepted. Against the rest
* f^.J«* Jeered to operate. Every marauding
expedition of Navajos was followed up by troops. '
wiA orders to kUl all warriors in arms, and to
hold women and children as captives. These
orders were stricdy obeyed. But such was the
agility of the Indians that only one of their par-
ti^ of 130 members, was captured in 1863, not-
withstandmg the fact that the famous Kit (irson
had a host of troopers at his backi It was deci-
ded diat really littie could be done till winter
when they would be forced to seek the security of
the canons for the purpose of saving their stock.
A^ ^' rendezvous would then be the Canon
de Oielly one of the most remarkable natural
wonders in the United Sutes, its approaches
being secure and its walls lined by ancient cliff,
dwellings.

Fortius Canon Colonel Carson started in Jan.
2864, with 390 men, having sent one company to
operate from the eastern end. After a hard march
through the snow, they reached the canon and
attacked the guard to its approach, killing eleven

NAVAJO HOSTlUTIBa

ludians and capturing several squaws and chil-
dren. He then disposed his forces so that they
might descend the canon, but was surprised to
find that the force destined for the eastern en-
trance had traversed the entire length of it,
without even so much as a battle, the enemy
having taken the alarm and scampered to the
heights through ways known only to themselves.
Still the eflFect of the expedition was fully felt by
the hostiles. They were on the borders of star-
vation and ready for terms. The only conditions
were that they should consent to removal to the
reservation at the Bosque. These terms were
readily accepted and Carson's expedition was
practically at an end. Carson*s command con-
sisted af a,ooo picked men. He chose the right
season for his expedition and used his forces so
as to hem the hostiles in completely. Their
surrender was almost as a nation. In a single
magnificent operation, and with the killing of
but few, he gathered in 10,000 Indians — ^the
largest single capture on record. Those who
remained out quickly responded to the, now well
known, overtures, and the resources of the Gov-
ernment were taxed to the uttermost to find
support for them. Port Canby was disbanded in
August and Kit Carson was sent to the plains to

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7a KAVAJO HOSTIUTIB3.

fight Kiowas and Comaiiclies» an^ the Navajo
wars were at an end.

These interesting Indians had tried the experi-
ment of reservation life in good faith, bnt they
had become dissatisfied with the repeated failure
of their crops. In 1868, General Sherman and
Colonel Tappan visited them as a Peace Com-
mission. They report that the reservation of
Bosque Redondo had been badly chosen, owing
to its sterility of soil, and that no agriculturist
could make a living there. They recommended
that the Navajos be removed to a reservation
nearer their old home and with better advantages.
This was done, and since then their condition
has steadily improved. In 1876 the Navajos
were reported as self-supporting. Since then
th^ have been given additional lands, owing to
increase in population and herds.

Chapter VIII.
THE AFFAIR OF MOUNTAIN MEADOW.

THE Indians who lived in the great Utah
Basin or who used it as part of their tramp-
ing grounds, were of the Shoshone stock,
and embraced the Snake, Bannock and Ute
families. These families were again sub-divided
into tribes with various names, more or less fan-
ciful. As a rule, they were not unfriendly to the
whites, though not disinclined to war under the
provocations which frequently arose. The Mor-
mons had no trouble with them, because they
approached them as equals and without a desire
to force their civilization upon them. They had
great power over them, for the reason that they
stood up for them, when the United States
attempted to execute its authority among them.
It may be said that the Mormon influence over
them was bad, in so far as it represented antag-
onism to the Government.

It is not our purpose to narrate how bitter
Mormon antagonism became in 1856, nor to dis-
cuss the wisdom of that costly and useless vpPf^

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tHB APPAIR OF MOUNTAIN MEADOW.

sion of their country by tlie Army of tbe United
States, Imt this invasion produced the greatest
excitement in all Mormondom. It fanned the
flames of religious and political passion till they
broke out in various forms. In that year there
passed through Salt Lake a large emigrant train,
composed mostly of Arkansas families, on their
way to Southern California. These emigrants
encamped for several days at Salt Lake where
their numbers were largely increased by Gentile
accessions, and by some Mormons who had become
dissatisfied with their religion.

When the emigrant train started on, it was
denied supplies in the Mormon settlements, was
treated as an intrusive and dangerous mass, and
was denounced as the vanguard of such an east*
cm mob as might soon be expected to come for
the purpose of sacking the Mormon Zion. The
train moved rapidly, amid contumely and scant
food supply, but without thought of direct attack
on their lives. After crossing the Great Basin,
they stopped for rest at Mountain Meadows, in
Southwestern Utah. While enjoying their rest
here, their camp was suddenly attacked by
Indians, who fired upon the emigrants as they
were seated around their fires cooking breakfast
Seven of their number fell in death at the first
voUqr, and sixteen were wounded. The rest

THB APPAIR OP MOUNTAIN MBADOW.

were thrown into confusion, but quickly rallied,
and having placed their women and children
under shelter of the wagons, they were soon
returning the fire with deadly eflFect The Indians
recoiled, and were held to their bloody work with
difficulty by their leaders, several of whom were
recognized as whites in disguise. They shot
down the cattle of the emigrants, and maintained
a desultory fire throughout the day and night.

On the next day the Indians were reinforced,
and by whites in diguise, supposably Mormon
allies. The emigrants, meanwhile, were making
their position strong by chaining their wagons
together and banking earth against them. Two
of their number stole out of the valley and started
to Cedar City for aid. They met three citizens
of Cedar City on their way, and were attacked
by them. One of them was instantly killed and
the other wounded. The wounded man made his
way back to the emigrant camp, and his story
revealed the awful fact that whites as well as In-
dians were their antagonists. In this they were
confirmed by witnessing a manoeuvering party
on the divide of the Meadows, composed of fully
250 men, one third of whom were whites. This
party decided that the position of the emigrants
was impregnable.

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76 THB APFAI& OF MOUKTAIN MBADOW.

But, surrounded as they were, escape was out
of the question. Surrender must be a matter of
only a few days. A council of Mormons had
been held and it was agreed that the emigrants
should be decoyed from their stronghold and ex-
terminated. Lee and Bateman, two Mormon
leaders, approached the camp with a flag of truce«
Lee represented to the emigrants that the Indians
were vexy excited and bent on massacre, but that
he had gotten them to promise they would injure
no one who surrendered to the Mormons. Be-
lieving that the Mormons would protect them, the
surrender was made. The men were to march
out unarmed, each one with a Mormon by his
side, to make the Indians believe he was a captive.
The wagons, loaded with food, sick and wounded
were to go ahead. The women and children were
to follow. The procession passed over the divide'
in the Meadows and down the slope beyond. A
Mormon leader, Higbee, is there with a company
of militia. His appearance is assuring, for his
company may prove a source of protection in case
the Indians renew hostilities. But in a twink-
ling his company wheels, and each member aims
for the emigrant nearest him. Flash go their
rifles in concert and down drop the victims of
their bullets. The Indians rush from their am*
bush and dash with yells upon the women. The

THB AFFAIR OF MOXJKTAIN MBADOW.

horrid work goes on upon the right and left, Lee
being present everywhere to see that the extermi-
nation is made complete. The rifle, the toma-
hawk, the bowie-knife, all do their devilish bid-
ding, till there is no one left to tell the tale of a
massacre whose fiendishness is without parallel.
If it be said it was not inspired by white men,
and not participated in by them, the answer is, no
Indian could be so hellishly malignant, however
much he might be a tool and dupe. The men all
fell at the first fire. The wounded and the worn- ^
en were brained with tomahawks. Some 18 chil-
dren, too young to babble as witnesses, were
' taken and distributed among the Mormon fami-
lies. The property of the emigrants was divided,
one part went to the Indians, the other was sold
for the benefit of the Mormon Church. The date
of the massacre was Sept. 1 1 , 1S57.

For months and years this massacre gave occa-
sion for discussion and investigation. The Mor-
mon leaders charged it to the Indians, who had
been excited by the hostility of the whites. Even
admitting that whiles had participated in it
they too had been wronged. The Church, as a
Church, had nothing to do with it. On the other
hand, it was contended that the whole thing was
actuated by the Church, and bore evidence of its
action. The fects never i^?'^^.^^^^^^^^

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78 THB AFPAni OF MOUNTAIN MBADOW.

reached, for the Mormons had hushed the lips of
those who might have convicted them, with their
bullets.

In 1859 Captain Campbell passed through the

Meadows and buried the remains of lao men,

women and children. The Mormons showered

honors upon Lee and the other leaders in this

dastardly aflfain Years afterwards they were

brought to trial. The first trial was a farce. The

second one was even a worse farce, in the respect

that the shrewder Mormons felt that Lee must be

sacrificed in order to save themselves. He was

found guilty of murder, and was shot to death on

the'scene of the massacre, where he confessed to

having killed five of the emigrants with his own

hands. He died cursing the leaders who had

deserted him, but professing faith in his x^gion.

He was not a victim to justice, but was as much

murdered by his accomplices as if they had fired

the last fiUal volley.

Chapter IX.
THE SPOKANE WARS.

IN 1858, the Spokanes and other tribes in
Washington Territory grew uneasy over
the approach of white settlers in the neigh-
borhood of the Colville mines. Though they
could safely boast that they had never shed the
blood of white men, an expedition against them
was deemed necessaxy. Colonel Steptoe started
with 157 men and two howitzers for the Spokane.
When crossing the prairie which borders the
Ingossomen Creek, he was suddenly confronted
by i,aoo warriors — Spokanes, Pelouses, Coeur d*
AUenes and Yakimas. They tried to provoke an
attack, but the Colonel avoided a- collision till he
found the cover of a ravine. Here he held a
conference which ended in satisfactory explana-
tions. This was what the Colonel most needed,
for it gave him opportunity for a safe and honor-
able retreat

But it so happened that an impulsive Chief,
Mil-kap^i, had not been consulted, he rushed
upon the Colonel's rear guard with his b^Adiu^

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THB SPOKANB WARS.

Opened fire. The fire became general on the part
of the Indians, and many of the white troops
fell. Colonel Steptoe was forced to relinquish
retreat and form for battie. He did so, on the
most advantageous spot he could find, but only to
be surrounded on three sides by Indians, Spok-
anes on the north, Coeur d' Allenes on the east,
and Pelouses on the west, all of whom kept up an
incessant firing. At night-fall it was decided
that the position could not be defended, and that
safety lay only in stealthy and rapid retreat
The howitzer and useless guns were buried, the
wounded stock was killed, all provisions and
accoutrements, except what each soldier could
lightly carry, were abandoned. Under cover of
the darkness the soldiers filed down the hill at
the rear, and plunged off in rapid flight, never
stopping till they reached the Snake river, 90
miles below.

This affair threw the settlements into the
greatest consternation, for the fact that so peace-
ful a.nation as the Spokanes had uprisen, gave
evidence of a great grievance and a general wan
Investigation showed that the Indians had been
influenced by the Mormon statement that Jesus
Christ had appeared eastward of the mountains,
.and his coming might soon be expected on the
wcstwanL Accordingly, General Clarke, Com-

THB SPOKANB WARS.

»i

f''

mander on the Pacific, issued orders that all
Indians be detached from Mormon influence.
This was all the more necessary, because the
Indians were found to be well provided with arms
and ammunition, which they could have gotten
only from Mormon traders, or from the posts of
the Hudson Bay Company. Investigation also
showed that the Indians were dissatisfied with
the failure of the Government to approve and
carry out the various treaties which had been
lately made. This was true of the friendly In-
dians; but, on the other hand, the wilder tribes,
were opposed to any and all treaties, for they
felt they would curtail their privileges.

So discontent, whose sources were both within
and without, grew apace. The conviction arose
that the Indians must be punished and General
Clarke prepared for this. His ultamatum was
that the Spokanes and other friendly tribes drive
all the hostiles from their midst, restore the prop-
erty taken from Colonel Steptoe, and surrender
all who fired on his command without the con-
sent of the chiefs. The reply came that they
did not want to fight, but would not deliver up
their neighbors. Colonel Wright moved with
the main column of the gathered forces from
Fort Walla Walla. Another column had its

base at Fort Simcoe on the Yakima* . -^ Jj^JLT ^

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THB SPOKANE WAHS.

THB SPOKANE WARS.

was made with the Nez Perces, and 30 of their
number inlisted as volunteers. Wright^s column
moved with 570 regulars, 30 Indian scouts, 100
• teamsters and two howitzei^. They built Fort
Taylor on the Snake, and garrisoned it. The
main body again marched to Four Lakes, where
they found the Indians in force. Colonel
Wright threw two companies in the rear and
charged their front with four other companies.
The Indians fled over the hill and across the
plain beyond, many of their number being shot
down by the riflemen who had gained the cover
of a small piece of woods.

The pursuit was kept up the next day, aud
the Indians were found again in front of a stretch
oftimber, they having set the prairie grass on
fire to stop their pursuers. Under cover of the
smoke they opened fire on the troops. A charge
through the flames was ordered and the Indians
were forced into the timber. The howitzers opened
on them and they were forced to flee, being
pursued closely by the troops. For seven hours
Oie runmng fight was kept up and the distance
traversed was 14 miles. The troops did not
sufler much from the Indian fire, but the Indians
lost two of their chiefs and many warriors.

The Indians were much discouraged and called
forai)ftrley- CoL Wright demanded absolute

surrender. Some of the chiefs favored it, and
brought in the offenders in their tribe. Others
opposed. The Col. then continued his pursuit
up the Spokane. He found that parties of In-
dians were running their stock off into the
mountains. These he attacked and captured 800
horses. This was a worse blow to the Indians
than a victorious battle would have proved, for
horses were almost their sole wealth.

Col. Wright next moved across to the mission
on Coeur d* Allene River, where he met 400 In-
dians in council. Here his conditions of surren-
der were accepted. He then marched to Lahto,
where he met the Spokanes in council. They
were treated with on the same terms a:s the Coeur
d* AUenes, and gave promises of permanent good
behavior. Meanwhile Major Gamett had fought
a victorious battle on the Yakima with thcPelou-
ses, and had brought them to terms. In all these
treaties Col. Wright insisted strenously on the
surrender of those Indians who had offended the
laws of their tribe and the country, by waging
war without the consent of their chiefs, by mur-
dering and pillaging and by stealing cattle. He
secured a large number of culprits in this way and
had them properly punished. This campaign, so
effective of peace, was remarkable in the fact that

it embraced, two battles, several ski^misl

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«4 THB SPOKANB WAMw

loss of many Indian warriors, the captnrc of over
looo horses, the destruction of large quantities of
Indian supplies, the punishment by death of 14
murderers and robbers, the surrender of three
powerful tribes, the giving of numerous hostages
for good behavior, all without the loss of a single
white soldier killed in battle.

Chapter X.

THE FIERCE APACHES AND
ARRAPAHOES.

SHE Apaches have resisted the whites more
stubbornly than any other Indian tribe.
They have had desert, rock and mountain
to aid them. They have proven brave,
cunning and fleet There is no atrocity they
have not committed and none they have not been
subjected to. They have terrorized a country
larger than five average States and have come to
be regarded as the most savage and treacherous
dwellers on the soil of the United States.

They originally embraced nine tribes, or fami-
lies, whose territory was in New Mexico and
Arizona, with margins south into Mexico and
north to the Ute country. The Mexicans never
gained any control over the Apaches, with whom
they were perpetually at war. Apaches were
always a terror to emigrants passing over the
'•outhem routes to California. They never
attacked but by surprise. Yet when settlers

first went into New Mexico to stop perm^entlf J

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86 THB FIBRCE APACHBS AND ARRAPAHOBS.

Strange to say^ the Apaches let them alone, for
they saw in them prospective allies against the
Mexicans, whom they mortally hated.

In 185Z the Apaches murdered a mail party of
1 1 men. The offending band was captured and
isolated on a reservation .In 1853, they attacked
and almost annihilated Lieutenant Davidson's
command of 60 men. Immediately a large force
of troops was thrown into the midst of the offend-
ing tribe and it was forced to sue for peace. In
1854-55 the Government was at war with the
Apaches, southeast of the Rio Grande, who siu>
rendered only after receiving severe punishmenL

The eastern Apaches made no general war on
the United States till the outbreak of the
Southern Rebellion, but the western Apaches
seemed never to cease their marauding expedi-
tions and piratical warfare. At the opening of
our civil war the troops were withdrawn from the
Apache country, and the mail routes were aban-
doned. The western Apaches took advantage
of the situation and ran wild in their robberies
and murders. They seemed to. be everywhere
and men and women were killed and ranches
destroyed, even where settlements were thick
The mining town of Tubac was deserted and
Tucson dwindled away to a village of 200 people.

•iaa viSR.cs apaches and arrapahoes. 87

To add to Ae desperation of the situation tte
Texts militiainvadaNewMexicoandti|eApaclie

lunTrTiix the interest of the South. They
^c'^d Fort Stanton, and made thexr conque^
of the country complete for a time,.; But the
Utes and JicariUa Apaches turned against them
SoTnSe Mescalero Apaches revolted and earned
^wttb^vrar agaLt the Confederates and

S !It^s This condition would have proved
Sin^^Ne; Mexico and Arizona,but for the
Sit C Colorado volunteers ^o ^^pnent^th.
forcTof General Canby. that he was able to
A- ,Z Texans from the line of the Rio
Grind? I "he same time General Carleton
wrpihing a column of 3.000 Califomians
^tS from Fort Yuma and opening commu-
^cations with the PaciHc ^^^^^^--:;^^

i^;^rwrr:arunKacheP^^^^^^^^

fhey thought impregnable. But the fire ^
SLs'mountain ^^^-iUei. demoralized
them and they fled with a loss of 66 kiUed^^

In September, 1862. Carleton reached the Rio
Gmid^ and relieved Canby.' He^^^^^^^J^
his entire attention to the subjugation of the In
dians. He sent Kit Carson, with five-mpj^
to Fort Stanton to operate against the Mesc^eros
. ^rNavajos. Capt. McCleave was sent directly

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« THB MBRCB APACHW AND ARRAPAHOBS

into the Mescalero-Apache countiy. CapL Rob-

«ts, wassenttothesamesectionbyanotherroute
The troops were nearly all Califomians, with no
love for Indians, especially Apaches. Theywere
under orders to "kill the men wherever found
and to take all women and children prisoners.*^

Carson reached Fort Stanton without much
fightmg. McCleave encountered the Apaches
at Dog Canon, one of their strongholds, and com-
pletely routed a foree of loo warriors, who beat
a retreat to Fort Stanton and surrendered to Kit
Carson. The chief of this band was " Always
Ready,'' who surrendered with the following
speech : « You are stronger than we. We have
fought you so long as we had rifles and powder ;
but your weapons are better than ours. Give us
like weapons and turn us loose and we will fight
you again. But we are worn out ; we have no
heart, no provisions, no means to live. Your
troops ue everywhere. Our springs are either
occupied or overlooked by your men. You have
dnven us from our last and best stronghold and
^ wehavenomore heart Do with us as seems
good to you, but do not foiget that we are men
and braves. »^ His band was sent to the reserva-
tion at Bosque Redondo, and it was voluntarily
followed by hundreds of others of the M-^^calexi
Apaches.

f ^

THB FIBRCB APACHBS AND ARRAPAHOBS. 89

The attention of the army was now turned to
the Mimbreno-Apaches. • During the early part
of 1863, more than forty of their warriors were
killed. The latter part of the year was devoted
to conquest of the Navajos. So actively had
operations been carried on that the Navajos sur*
rendered almost as a tribe, and in a single year
over 5000 of them were placed on the Bosque
reservation.

In 1864, General Carleton was free to direct
all his energies against the Western Apaches.
He had made up his mind that nothing but a
war of extermination would settle these maraud-
ers. They moved so rapidly and eluded pursuit
so successfully by running over the Mexican
border, that Carleton asked the co-operation of
the Governors of Sonora aud Chihuahua, which
was promised. The miners of the respective
mining towns in Arizona agreed to keep a force
in the field. The Pimas and Maricopas were
armed with improved weapons and furnished
with white officers. Here was a combination of
foreign and home military, armed miners and
two friendly Indian tribes against the Apaches,
and all intent on a war of extermination.
Carleton said • ^^ the work must be done now and
effectually, or we shall have a twenty years, war

onourbands.^^^ I r\r\r^]f>

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90 raz FIBRCK APACHBS AND AkRAPAHORi.

«f ^'/U' '^'^ ''^^ '"^^ ^^^^^ ^^ th« help
of the Navajos,who yet «mamed unsubdued

The war was carried on by both sides vrith uure.

kntm^ fury. Battle after battle was fought,

^ great loss of life. The loss to our trc^p

was never fully reported, but as to the enemy

Inians killed 363, wounded 140, sheep captured

L^ t tT.%''^''- ^""'^ ^'^ Navajof we«
AnLw •5'^''* reservation, but the wily
«^?„ Tf"^ '^^'''''' ^^^y ^^'« "Either
^^nT' "?" ~«^'^^«'<*' 'h°«gl^ the losses of
«ops in their sheltered valleys had made them
poor and disposed them to peace.

The Apache bosom burned against the one con-
dibon of surrender which banished them to the
nT^% "f.^^'f o». They agreed to treat, but
not mth this alternative as a stipulation. They
sent four of their chiefs to insect this reser^

«^r„M "Tu *^ '^' '"^* ^'^ ^"« of them
. rehu^ed, and the war wenton. At theclose of the

^^t^^^ '^' United States, New Mexico fell
Tt^f.^V^'^' of Missouri, and Arizonainto
^'f' X^T^"- ^^^1 Halleck had com-
foStlr*. ^r '^ P^Partment, and he believed
follyiu the policy of exterminating^he Apaches,
who were now mostly in Arizona. "It is usel^s
to negotiate with them," he said, "for the^

THB FIBRCB APACHBS AND ARRAPAHOB& 91

observe no treaties, agreements or truces. With
them there is no alternative but vigorous war,
till they are completely destroyed or forced to sur-
render as prisoners of war."

The troops in Arizona were under the com-
mand of General Mason, and he prosecuted the
war on the Apaches even more relentlessly than
before. The white soldiers and citizens excelled
the Indians in cruelty, and to kill an Indian, on
general principles, was the comman law of the
situation. The unprovoked murder of Waba
Yuma, chief of the Hualapais, drove that friendly
tribe into hostility, and they proved to be far
more vicious warriors than the Apaches. The
Bosque reservation was only designed for tempo-
rary use. Most of the Indians on it had been
sent there with the promise that they would be
provided with larger and permanent reservations.
The crops failed at the Bosque in 1865. The
Navajos and Apaches did not agree. Each ele-
ment claimed the early fulfillment of the Govern-
ment promise. Each charged the agent at the
reservation with favoritism. In November 1865
the entire tribe of Mescalero-Apaches left the
reservation and went to their own country. This
meant war, and White Eye fought his tribe for
several years. When it finally surrendered, it

sx>t a reservation of its own in its i own countrTr>

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9» *H»KBRC»APACHBSAin)ARRAPAH0B8.

As the Apache wan continued the Indians
found out new covers in the mountain fastnesses,
and their abandoned valleys were occupied by the
whites. Deserted towns and villages were repopu.
lated and the mining camps became compara-
favely safe. Still, the n>ads and trails were full of
danger, and no one dared venture far from a

i^K ft,''?''.''^'^/"' *™*- Cattle wert. run
off by the Indians fix>m farm and ranche. There
was no telling the moment when these swift
aarauders would appear. Years of war had only
add^ to their cunning and their malice. Not a
single Apache had been thoroughly subdued, ex-

ri- rrf^.r^^l.^*^^'- 'The policy of extenni-
nation had been thoroughly tried, and at the be-
ginning of 1869, many of the army officem were
wee to confess that it was a failure.

In April 1869, a permanent Bo^rd of Indian
^mmi^ioners was formed. It advised a change

with tbe^ Indians. But General Ord, who had
come into command on the Pacific, pursued the
policyofectermination. In that year, he reported

S^ tL^i^j"*. ^ ^^ ^'"'^ ^y P^tieTwho
h^fa^led them into their mountain fastnesses.

la^equantitiesofstoresdestioyed. WhUehewas
proving the wisdom of his own policy, th^

THB PXBRCB APACHBS AND AItRAPAH0B3. 93

object of legitimate war was being obtained. The
Indians were learning that they could not escape
the invading power of the whites, nor forever sub-
mit to destruction of their property. One tribe of
Arivapas came in and surrendered to Lieutenant
Whitman, at camp Grant, and there being no
reservation for them to go to, he set them to work
cutting hay for the garrison. In April they
were set upon by Americans, Mexicans and
Papago Indians from Tucson and practically
exterminated, women and children being butch*
ered as well as the men. This Camp Grant
massacre raised a whirlwind of excitement among
all humanitarians, and President Grant sent
Vincent Colyer to the scene, with power to
abjust thelndian troubles. He was not welcomed
by the whites of Arizona, and knew nothing
of Indin nature — ^at least Apache nature. Yet
he worked heroically, laid out an extensive plan
of reservations, and was instrumental in securing
the removal of many tribes to them. Their site
was generally illy chosen and the occupants
lived discontentedly. Many of them were after-
wards abandoned by the Indians, who left hui>
gether or were transferred to more favorable sites.
In 1871 General Crook took command in
Arizona. He was a noted Indian fighter but not
an exterminator. He believed in conquering and

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THB FIBRCB APACHBS AND ARRAPAHOB&

then treating justly. He said, ^' I am satisfied
that a sharpy active campaign against the Apache
will make him one of the best Indians in the
country and save the government millions of
dollars. He must either cultivate the soil or
steal. Our vacillating policy encourages him to
the latter.*' Colyer was there and was given
time to try his peace policy. Crook was then
given full power to proceed, but not wishing to
clash with the peace commissioners he contenteE
himself with pursuing and punishing, without
prosecuting active hostiles.

At length the Colyer policy was pronounced a
failure. The hostiles neither came in nor
remained quiet They made 54 attacks in the
year 1872, killing over 50 citizens and soldiers
and stealing 500 horses. Crook then an-
nounced his intention of punishing the incor-
rigably hostile. He began operations in a country
where the enemy was imbued with the hatreds of
three centuries, where whites were almost as
barbarous as the Apaches, where criminals from
other States and Territories had sought refuge,
where continuous war had doubled savagery,
where mountain and ravine made pursuit diffi.
cult, where escape over the Mexican border was
easy and finaL His winter campaign against the
TontoSy CoyoteroSy Tampais, and .Hualapais,

•

THB PIERCE APACHBS AND ARRAl'AHOES.

brought them to terms. All of tfjese had fooled

Colyer and his peace notions. They were once

«ore placed on reservations where they stiU

•Remain, except as they were changed for health

considerations. ...

Ciook fought Apache with Ap«:he. He enlist-

ed every friendly he could and thus pursued
^ith ^knowledge the whites could never have
r^ired in themselves. His employment of
Indian police at reservations has since 1^^
teneraliradopted. The Apaches were unpressed
SHhe information that their welfare lay m
Their own keeping. By making these democratic
Se agents of the law, they were led to pumsh
Sefr own evil doers. This was a mighty stnde
forward. A new era had dawned on the Apaches-
menever they were friendly they were useful
Only the renegades were left to be hunted. In
?87s GovemoT Safford said in his message:
i At no period in the history of Arizona have our

Indian affairs been so satisfactory. Qcnewl
Crook, in the subjugation of the Apaches, has
su^;Li his formir well-earned mUiUry reputa-
tion and deserves the gratitude of our people.
No extermination, no peace; neither vengeano^
nor sentimentalism; justice to white and red.-
ihis.was the Crook policy.

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96 TOBMBRCBAPACHaSAITOAilRAPAHOBS.

But iu 1874 the reservations of Arizona passed
from the War Department to the Indian Burean.
The policy, of the latter was that of concentration
It began to take from the Indians their promised

lands they had irrigated. Crook refused to coun-
tenance this injustice, and was removed. Colonel

^^"l^^TT^"^ ^i?/ ^"' ^^^^ "^ C^°o^'» views

rts shiftmg of Indians from old to new agencies.

effect their object The upshot of the newdispen-
safaon was discontent among the whole of 7he
tnb^. desertion from the reservations, more
gnnding tyranny on tiie part of the Bureau
revolt on the part of the Indians. '

oA'fiV^^'*'^^ * «*"^1 breaking up of
a^l that had been previously established The
A^hes were abroad in bands, and as predatory
and dangerous as ever. Every dissatisfied Indian
helped to augment the forces that skimmed tiie
Mexi^n borders, now here, killing and stealing ;
now th«e, buying and murdering. In 1879
Major l^rrow hunted tiiem incessantly with the
9ih Cavalry but tiiey dodged him witii tiieacumen

iJfw f A ~L' ^f "^^ ^°"^^- I» ^««o. Col-

rt ^,^«i them through all tiie recesses

of the San Mates, Mimbres and MogoUon moua-

TH9 PIBRCB APACUKS AND ARItAPAHOBS.

tains, and Colonel Carr met them only to turn
them south into Mexico. In this long and desper-
ate chase, the Indians had no friends and were
desperate. They killed and plundered indiscrimL
nately, and whatever their own losses may have
been they left a three-fold loss in their trail.

The hostile Apache in Mexico was out of the
way of American troops, but was not much better
ofif. He was dangerous wherever he might be, *
and therefore an object of hatred. But with the
Mexican side we have nothing to do. The Apache
returned quick enough and gave our forces some-
thing to do. His return, however, set people to
thinking. Might there not be a mistake in dealing
with him. For a man — even an Indian man — to
say: ^1 would sooner die than be on such or
such an reservation, where I shall only perish
with disease or starvation, might there not be
provided a congenial reservation. Since the
claim of the white man was only a theft any way,
why might not there be consideration enough to
say to the Indian *eujoy the slice we leave you.* *'

In x88a, a treaty was concluded with Mexico
which authorized the pursuit of Indians by the
troops of the two nationalities across the borders.
At the same time General Crook was returned to
his old command iu Arizona. He ^ad common .
sense, and kept faitl; with the Ii^di^s. Portiiese

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THB PIB&CB APACHBS AND AULAPAHOBa

things they liked him, though many whites did
not The biggest surrender of the year was that
of the Indian Bureau to General Crook. He per-
suaded the discontented Indians to go back to
reservations and he took care to see that they
were where they could be happy and useful. He
next turned his attention to the hostiles, mostly
over the border in Mexico. They had no homes
and were incorrigible. They refused every oflfer
to negotiate. Yet they made their invasions and
committed their murders. One of their leaders,
called Peaches, was arrested and induced to lead
Crook's troops to the Apache stronghold beyond
the border. It was reached and a battle ensued
in which the Indians were defeated. A parley
ensued, at which the renegades agreed to come
back to a reservation selected by themselves on
Turkey Creek, near camp Apache. By 1884,
these were the most industrious and self-supportr
ing Indians on any reservation.

Chaptsr XI

WARS WITH OGALLALLAS AND
CROWS.

^FTER the Civil war the mountainous
^4 country between the Continental divide
I and the plains came into prominence as a
mining section. The rush thither surpass-
ed everthing before known in the northwest
The Alder Gulch region is said to have srielded
50,ocx>,ooo of dollars in four years. Helena,
Virginia City, Bozeman and other mining towns
sprang into existence and were dependent on out-
side marts for supplies. One route to this new
Golconda was by the emigrant road through South
Pass and northward by way of Fort Hall. An-
other, was by boat up the Missouri and Yellow-
stone and thence through the Crow Indian
coutry to the mines. Both of these routes were
500 miles longer than a direct way would have
been from Port Laramie to Bozeman. Prepara-
tions for the opening of a direct way— afterwards
known as the Montana Road — were begun in 1865,
and negotiations for the right to pass through
the intermediate Indian countries were opened.

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100 WARS WITH OGALLALLAS AND CHOWS.

The negotiations would have been easy if the
Crows alone had been interested, for almost the
entire country was known as ** the land of the
Crows," of the Dakota family, a nation of tall,
well formed hunters and horsemen, who had
never been, as a nation, hostile to the whites.
But they had been unmercifully punished by the
Sioux from the east and north, and had been
driven from a great part of their native grounds-
known as the Powder River Country, a natural
hunting spacefilled with game of all kinds and
therefore very desirable possessions for any In-
dian tribe.

Th^ facts necessitated treaties for right of
way with not only the Crows, who embraced
three distinct families, or tribes, but with the
Sioux, embracing the families or tribes of Min-
neconjous. Lower Brules, Two Kettles, Blackfoot
Sioux, Sans Arcs, Oncpapas and Ogallallas.
The treaties were effected at Fort Sully in Octo
ber x86s, and they were remarkable, if not sus-
picious, in the respect that they were signd by
very few of the leading Chiefs. The Chiefs who
signed for the Ogallallas had no influence with
the tribe and their action was repudiated. It
was so with many of the othew. Even the
Crows, natund enemies of the Sioux tribes, could
not be held to their treaties.

WARS WrrH OGALLALLAS AND CROWS.

loi

But it is liardly to be supposed that the govern-
ment thought these treaties would stand, for
simultaneously with their execution it sent Gen-
eral Connor into the Powder River Country to
establish Fort Reno, and punish revolting tribes,
among whom a powerful anti-treaty sprung up
rapidly. This sentiment was most powerful
among the three bands of Ogallallas, whose lead-
er was Red Cloud, a warrior of rank and great
influence, who professed ability to communicate
directly with the Great Spirit, who was his guide
in all matters of moment Red Cloud, as did all
the Chiefs of any ^account, realized that the
building of the Montana highway would destroy
their favorite hunting grounds and reduce their
tribes to a dependent condition. He was ably
seconded in his opposition to the treaties by ^^ Man-
afraid-of-his-horses,'* another Ogallalla Chief of
great prominence.

The Brule Sioux were, as a tribe, hardly less
antagonistic to the treaties than the rest, though
their Chief, Spotted-Tail favored them. Spotted-
Tail had risen to prominence in his tribe through
a love tragedy. He was rival with one of the
greatest chiefs for the hand of a comely maiden.
The Chief demanded that he should cease his
pretensions, as being of no rank in the tribe.
Burning with rage, Spotted-Tail, snatched hia^

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IM WARS WITH OGALl^IXAS AND C&0W8.

knife and defied his rival. There was a life and
death struggle, after which both contestants were
found locked in each others arms, seemingly dead.
But Spotted-Tail recovered, married his girl, and
was dected as Chief of the tribe after the death
of the hereditary chief. At the time of the treat-
ies above mentioned his authority was merely
nominal, owing to the strong anti-treaty senti-
ment, though he was counted on by the whites as
a sure friend.

Every e£fort was made to induce the dissenting
Indians to come to terms, but they remained
undeceived by promises. Military occupation of
their country was going on all the time that
negotiations were pending. Colonel Carrington
was ordered up from Fort Kearney with 2,000
men, of which fully 500 were scattered directly
along the route of the proposed new highway.
Their presence was a plain menace, and Red
Cloud, Man-afraid-of-his-horses, and other chiefs
broke off all further negotiations. The Lower
Brules with a few stragglers from other tribes were
the only Indians who concluded to maintain peace.
They numbered at the time 2,500 people, but
within a year, Spotted-Tail, Standing Elk and
Swift Bear, could not muster over xoo lodges,
mostly women and old men, so great had been
the defection in their ranks to those of Red Cloud.

WARS WITH OOALLALLAS AND CROWS.

The invasion of the Powder River Country
went on, in almost entire ignorance of the real
sentiment of the Indians. The troops sent were
numerous, tut poorly equipped for Indian hostth-
ties. On' the morning after, a large command

reached Fort Reno, 167 ^^^f ,,^°^^^f„''/ c^^^
Laramie, the very peacefully mclmed Sioux
ran off all the sutler's horses and mules They
were pursued without effect Soon after the
r.^y that had reached KneyCreekwere ordered

off. ^th notice that Fort Reno would not be dx^
turbed, but that no other fort could be built in
hecoW Notwithstanding this notic^^the
foundations of Fort Phil. Kearney >;«e l^d on
Piney Creek. While at work on this fort, the
herd of the builders was stampede-d and the
party sent in pursuit was surrounded by Ind^ns
Ld driven b4 with a loss of two soWiers k^ed
and three wounded. On the same day Induns
atucked the trading post of " f ^.^^^ ^^f ;^.
who had married a Sioux wife, and killed the en-
ti^>tyofsixmen. I- t^e ten days following
five emigrant trains were attacked and fifteen
m^Sred. A great quantity of stock was
run off from under the guns of Fort Reno.

Colonel Carrington now began to find outsat
the Indians were in earnest, and he sent for re-m-
fo^ments. Two companies of regular ca^

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t«H WARS WITH OOAI,I,AW^8 AND CROW&

were ordered from Fort Laramie and a regimeut
of infantry from St Louis. Meanwhile the In-
dians kept up their depredations, killing emi-
grants, running oflF stock, pillaging posts and
camps. The building of Fort PhU. Kearney was
also going on on an elaborate plan and amid
great difficulties. It was inclosed in October,
1866, and was one of the largest forts in the'
northwest, being 860 feet long by 600 wide, sur-
rounded by a stockade n«irly double in size.
The proposed new road to Montana crossed the
Big Piney just above the fort. Carrington was
sent out to build forts and he constructed this
one, with his men under constant guard, though
he seemingly neglected to ascertain the exact
state of things about him by means of tnuned
scouting parties. Some of his best men were
captured in the woods and never afterwards
heard tell of.

The Indians grew bolder, as soldiers were
forced to play carpenter. Now, they attacked the
the wood trains, and then rode tantalizingly up to
the fortand challenged thesoldiers to fight. InNov-
ember one company of cavalry arrived, and Col-
onel Fetterman became anxious for a fight. On
December 6th, the wood train was attacked two
miles from the fort, and forced to corral for defence.
Fettcrmau was sent with a force of infantry and

WA&8 WITH OOALLALLAS AND C&OWS. tos

cavalry to attack the Indians and drive them
across Lodge Tail Ridge. Carrington went with
a small force of mounted infantry back of the
Ridge to intercept the Indians on Peno Creek.
Fetterman made his attack and routed the Indians
whom he pursued for about five miles. They
then faced about and retunied the attack on Fet-
terman's troops. His cavalry fled, leaving him
with a mer« handful of men to face a hundred
Indian warriors. Fortunately Carrington's force
came up and the Indians retired. Their retreat
was a ruse, for Lieutenant Bingham and two
or three others who pursued an unmounted Indian
for two miles, fell into an ambush and were killed.
Red Cloud commanded this Indian force in per-
son. He had a system of watches and signals on
the hills, and had, no doubt, prepared this ambus-
cade for the entire force of whites.

On December 21, 1866, a force of 90 men started
into the woods to obtain timber for the fort At
1 1 A. M., the look-out was signalled, "Woods full
of Indians. Train attacked and coralled. Send
relief." Colonel Fetterman was placed in charge
of a relief party. Lieutenant Grummond took
the cavalry portion in hand. The entire party
footed up 84 men. It moved rapidly along the
slope of Lodge Trail Ridge and deployed. The
Indians abandoned their atUck on the wood train,

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WARS WITH OOALLAIXAS AND CROWa

and attacked Fetteraau who fought his way over
the ridge and into the Valley of Peno Creek. The
firing was rapid and continuous, giving evidence
at the fort of a hard battle. Colonel Carrington
grew anxious, and ordered the men of the wood
train to fight their way over the ridge to Fetter-
man^s relief. They tried to do so but were driven
back. Another force of 76 men was sent out
from the fort under Captain Ten Eyck. It hast-
ened to the ridge to find the firing slacking as
though one side were giving way. Looking over
the summits of the ridge into Peno VaUey it was
found to be full of exultant savages who challenged
the new comers to attack. Word was sent back
to the fort for a howitzer, which did not come
Presently, Ten Eyck noticed that the Indians
were withdrawing from the valley on their own
account Venturing down, he found that Fetter-
man's command had been driven onto a knoll and
surrounded. Within a space of about forty feet
square lay the bodies of Colonel Fetterman
Captain Brown and 65 men, stripped naked,
scalped and mangled beyond description. They
had, evidentiy, been surrounded by greatiy su-
pwior numbers and shot down at close range.
What had become of the rest of the command ?
Next day a party was sent out to ascertain their
fate. A quarter of a mile beyond the pile of dead

WARS WITH OGALLALLAS AND CROWS.

X07

in the valley was found the dead body of Lieuten-
ant Grummond, and still futher, the bodiesof other
officers and men, scalped and mutilated as before.
The extermination of Fetterman's command had
been complete. The victorious Indians were said
to number 2,000 warriors made up of various dis-
satisfied tribes — Ogallallas, Brules, Crows, Ar-
rapahoes, Cheyennes, &c., though the above
number is more likely to embrace all who were
on the war-path at the time than the number
actually engaged in the attack. They reported a
loss equal to that of the whites.

This tragedy filled the land with murmurs of
rage against the Indians and of disapproval of
the military management which had made it
possible. General Grant ordered an investi-
gation, the general conclusions of which were
that a mighty blunder had been committed but
by whom and precisely when and how, nobody
could find out. Carrington was removed and
was succeeded by Generad Wessels. About this
time Fort Buford, -at the mouth of the Yellow-
stone was attacked by Red Cloud, and the report
was that its garrison was massacred entire. But
it seemed that one company of cavalry was spared
who had beaten off the attack- Wessels tried a
winter campaign with no good results. In the
spring of 1867, Man-afraid-of-his-horses andotherj

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WARS WITH OGALLALLAS AND CROWa

chiefs wanted to reform and join Spotted-Tail's
friendly Brules. But as their only excuse was
that they wanted powder for hunting, they were
not treated with, and hostilities were kept up all
summer^ the troops on the Montana road having
to £ght for their wood and water. In August,
Major Powells guard was attacked by a large
force of Indians and driven in upon his reserve
of 30 men stationed behind an improvised fort-
ress made of their iron wagon beds. These
troops were well armed with breech-loaders and
had plenty of ammunition. They picked off the
Indians in such numbers that they drew o£f and
fell back to the hills, where they were joined by
Red Cloud's main body, estimated at 1200 war-
riors. The attack was renewed with determi-
nation. For three hours the corral was a blaze
of fire and the Indians were swept away by whole-
sale. The closer they came for attack the more
densely they ha4 to mass, and therefore the surer
the fire of the besieged. They could stand the
withering fire no longer and gave way in flight
^heir loss was heavy and they called the battle
the ** medicine fight,'' because they thought the
whites had supernatural assistance, it being their
first taste of medicine administered by the deadly
breech-loades. The loss to the whites was but
two killed and two wounded.

WARS WITH OGALLALLAS AND CROWS. 109

In the fall of 1867, the Indian Commission
decided that the Government had no right to
push a road through the Powder River Couutry.
The Pacific Railroad was under way. Army
officers and the country were anxious to s^ it
completed. By means of it Montana would be
more accessible than by the Bozeman route. The
Indians favored it and offered a right of way, if
the Government would surrender its claims to
the Powder River Country. The treaty of Apnl
29, 1868, was formed, in which the Powder River
Country was relinquished to the Indians and a
right Jf way secured for the Pacific Railway.
Red Cloud did not sign this treaty till the
Government actuallybeganto withdraw ite troops
from the line of the Montana road. ^ After this
was accomplished the various Sioux tnbes ^ook
possession of the country and demolished the
chain of forts which had cost the country such
enormous treasure to build and so many preoous
lives to defend. This treaty, like all othera
with the Indians, was not destined to stand. A
few years later, it was ascertained that the Gov.
emment had surrendered rights which were too
precious and that it would pay to go over the
same ground again.

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Chapter XIL
THE PIEGAN PUNISHMENT.

THE seats of the Black-Feet tribes were about
Lake Winnepeg. Strife among them led
to the secession of a large number under
the lead of Piegan, or Pheasant, and his
name passed to them. Coming south into the
territory of the United States, his supporters
were augmented by other dissatisfied Black-Feet,
Bloods and Gros Ventres, so that they became
a formidable tribe.

They are a tall, well formed people with con-
siderable prowess as warriors. Their govern-
ment is complicated, being composed of seven
classes, running down through chiefs, priests,
legislators, hunters, warriors, to the lowest ranks.
They are sun-worshippers, and the sun dance is
the most palpable manifestetion of their religious
emotion. They have figured in encyclopedias
and dime novels as a treacherous, blood-thirsty
people, always at enmity with the whites and
tireless in their depredations upon them. Much
of this is exaggeration. In 1853, they did not

THB PIBGAN PUNISHMBNT.

hesitate to meet Governor Stevens in council, and
his report was that their disposition was undoubt-
edly friendly. At that time the Bloods and Black-
Feet were on Milk River, the Piegans between the
Milk and the Missouri, and Gros Ventres on the
Missouri below the mouth of Milk River. In
i855allthe tribes of the Upper Missouri, including
those mentioned above, met Governor Stevens in
council, as had been agreed upon two years be-
fore, and not only promised peace among one
another but with the United States. A common
hunting ground was mapped out, white travellers
were to be protected, and the Government was
conceded the right to make roads anywhere.
Annuities were promised the Indians, and the
help of the whites in promoting their civiliza-
tion.

Ten years of peace passed. The Indians tried
agriculture, but the country was too dry. Their
annuities were either never paid or were frittered
away. There came no promised schools and none
of the blessings of civilization. The discovery
of gold in the borders of the Blackfoot Country
in 1862-1863 attracted thither a mob of white
miners who increased the value of their finds by
selling whisky to the Indians. In 1864 the Black-
Feet oflFered to help General Sully to whip the
Sioux. In the same year the Bloods ^ tj^i ^

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THB PIBGAN PUMISHMBNT.

pers were at war, and the Bloods forgot about
their treaties and carried their horse stealing to
Fort Benton, demolishing the Suu River Agri*
cultural Farm. The enmity of the whites ex-
tended to the Piegans, and it was given out that
all the Black-Feet nation, except the Gros Ventres,
was at war openly or secretly. A militia organ-
ization was formed against them, but it never
rose above the dignity of a vigilance committee.
In 1866 the restored buildings at Sun River
farm were burned, and the arson was blamed on
the Piegans, for the reason that they had mur*
dered their Chief, Little Dog, because he had
restored some stolen horses to the whites. In
1866-67, these Indians, in common with all others
whose living depended on the chase, suffered
from want of ammunition and supplies, they
having been withheld by the Government on
account of the war with the Sioux tribes on the
Montana road. Yet there was no outbreak in
1867. ^^ 1868, the white population around
Fort Benton began outrages which were well cal-
culated to excite the Indians to war. After the
Piegans had signed the treaty of that year, their
leader. Mountain Chief, was shot at by two
white mtHf which* dastardly act idcensed the
tribe to revenge, especially after their efforts to
have the culprits punished by law failed entirely.

THB riEOAN rUNISHMBNT.

113

They raided Diamond City and stole 80 horses.
Commissioner CuUen seized 18 Piegans and held
them till the horses were returned.

The year 1869 showed a worse state of feeling.
The Indians revenged themselves on the whites
for their lawlessness by stealing their horses and
running them over the Canadian borders, where
they found ready sale for them. General Sully
reported the situation as desperate and said:
i* Nothing will prevent a general outbreak of the
Indians except a sufficient force to clear the
country of roughs and whisky sellers."

The Piegans, still smarting under the insult
to their Chief, were sympathized with by Red
Horn, Bear Chief and others. The depredations,
which consisted largely of horsestealing raids,
now turned into mutual surprises and murders,
in which whites and reds drew on their dev-
ilish ingenuity to the uttermost Emigrant
trains were attacked; ranches were broken up,
murders were a matter of almost daily occurrence,
and for every murder of a white, two Indians had
to pay thepenalty with their lives. The Clarke
massacre, near Helena, intensified the excite-
ment and seemed to justify a call for the mihtary,
but General Sully thought matters would nght
themselves. In December, a marauding party
.uuclcaparty of buut« in S«. Ri^rvalg

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TnB PIBGAK PUNISHMENT.

and a violent fight ensued. It was resolved to
strike back at once, but tbe great difficulty was
to distinguisb between friendly and hostile
Indians, a matter the settlers had never been very
particular about Indeed it had became a habit
to blame every crime on the Piegans and to pun-
ish them for every deed committed by roving
bands. The camps of Heavy Runner, Big Leg,
Little Wolf and The Boy were selected as friendly,
and were to remain undisturbed. The camps of
Mountain Chief, Bear Chief and Red Horn were
to be struck, as hostile.

Colonel Baker left Fort Ellis in January, 1870,
with four companies of cavalry. He was re-in-
forced at Port Shaw with two companies of mount-
ed infantry, and pushed his way north on the
19th, marching only at night to insure secrecy.
On the 23rd, they reached the camp of Bear
Chief and Red Horn. Their attack was a com- .
plete surprise. Over 300 ponies, their entire
herd, was captured, and 173 Indians, including
Red Horn, were killed. Only nine Indians es-
caped, all the rest, men, women and children, fell
into the list of killed and captured. Colonel
Baker went in search of Mountain Chiefs camp,
but found only seven deserted lodges on the site.
The troops then proceeded to the camps of the
Blood chiefs where they demanded all the horses

THB PIBGAN PUNISHMENT.

and other property they had stolen. They then
returned to their quarters, wearing the laurels of
soldiers who had tracked the hostiles to their lair
in the dead of winter, surprised a camp stricken
with small pox, killed 173 of its occupants, far
iifore than half of whom were women and child-
ren.

This attack created great excitement m the
'East, where it was regarded as a barbarous ex-
hibition of force. The matter found its way into
congress and gave rise to many acrimonious de-
bates. Censure was extended clear along the
lines up to the commanding officer of the District,
and then it took a political turn, some holding
Sheridan responsible and others General Han-

cock.

Though Mountain Chief and perhaps the worst
of the Piegau oflfenders escaped this terrible
visitation, they have not proved so troublesome
since. Only in 1885 were they reported as
dangerously discontented, chiefly because of crop
failures and inadequate rations. In nearly all
cases the country reserved for these northern
, tribes is unfit for cultivation. A white man
' would starve on it. The Indian is expected to
change his customs, go to work, and live, where
life is impossible. Verily the exactions of the
white, the civilized, the christianized peoples ar|^

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THE PIBGAK FUmSHMBNT.

hard. Their code of meum and ttum seems like
a wide departure from that divine summary of
law " Do unto others as ye would that others
should do unto you.''

Chaptbr XI'II.
MODOC AND LAVA BED.

THE Modoc tribe are an offshoot of the Kla-
maths. They occupied the country knovm
as ^^ Lost River Basin/' and covering por-
tions of the old Government road to Oregon
and California. Their first difficulty was with
emigrants, and, according to the Modocs, it grew
out of the efforts of the emigrants to recapture
horsesfoundin their possession, which they claimed
they had purchased from theSnake and Pitt River
Indians. Hostilities once begun, continued at
intervals, during which time many Modocs were
killed and many emigrants were cruelly butch-
ered. Perhaps the most revolting of the many
scenes was the massacre of seventy-five whites in
1852. This terrible tragedy called out a comjlany
of volunteers for the protection of emigrants.
Under the command of Ben. Wright, of Yreka,
Cal, they arrived on Tule Lake, at Bloody
Point the scene where the seventy-five whites
were butchered. They tried to engage the
Modocs in a fair battle, but failing in this pro-
posed a ^^peace talk'' which was finally accepted,

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MODOC AND LAVA BBD.

and forty^ix Modoc warriors responded, and were
by him and his company attacked and forty-one
of them slain. The Modoc people have always
remembered this actof treaclieiy which hadmuch
to do m perpetuating the bitter feelings that have
since existed, and doubtless had influence in the
assassination of General Canby and Dr. Thomas.
Had Ben Wright been held to account for this
unauthorized act, it would have done much to
secure the confidence of the Modocs and the
tnbes as well But instead of this he was
received with great demonstrations, bonfires and
banquets, and was afterwards appointed an Indian
agent as a reward for this heroic act of treachenr
to a trusting people, and a vioUtion of the sacied
nghts of a flag of truce.

HostiKties continued until 1864, when a tem-
poraiy treaty was made. In the same year, on
the 14A of October, Superintendent Huntington
of Oregon, under authority of the General
Government, held a treaty council at Council
Grove, n^ Fort Klamath, with the Modocs and
Klamath Indians, when all the countiy claimed
by these tribes was ceded to the Government
except so much as may be embraced within the
boundanes of what is known as Klamath reser-
vation, upon which they agreed and bound them-
selves to locate immediately after the latificatioa

MODOC AND LAVA BBD.

1x9

of treaty. Captain Jack (Kient-poos), and other
members of the Modoc tribe signed the treaty in
the presence of witnesses. They remained on
the reservation several months, accepting goods
and subsistence in conformity with the treaty
and finally left returning to the Modoc country.
They ignored the treaty and refused to return to
the reservation until December, 1869. This
time they remained on the reservation until
April, 1870, and then left for their camp on Lost
River. Captain Jack and his band were prepared
at this time to remain upon the reservation, and
settle down in the way of civilization, if there
had been ordinary encouragement and assistance,
and if the Klamaths, who largely outnumbered
Captain Jack's band, aud who were their heredi-
tary enemies, had allowed them to do so. This
band began to split rails for their farms, and in
other ways to adopt civilized habits ; but the
Klamaths demanded tribute from them for the
land they were occupying, which the Modocs
were obliged to render. They also began to
taunt the Modocs, calling them ^^ strangers,
orphans, poor men,'' and annoyed them in
various ways, claiming the reservation as exclu-
sively their own. Captain Jack appealed to
Captain Knapp, the agent, for protection from
these insults. At the agent's suggestion they

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MODOC AND LAVA BBD.

removed to another part of the reservation and
began again to try to live by cultivating the
ground. But here also they were followed by
the same spirit of hostility by the Klamaths,
from which they do not seem to' have been pro-
tected by the agent The issue of rations seems
also to have been suspended for want of funds,
and for these reasons Captain Jack and his band
returned to their old home on Lost River, where
they became a serious annoyance to the whites,
who had in the meanwhile settled on their ceded
lands.

Renewed petitions for their removal called the
attention of Superintendent Odeneal to the sub*
jectjwho, laying the matter before the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs at Washington, was
instructed under date of April iSy2^ to have the
Modocs removed to the Klamath reservation and
to protect them from the Klamaths. The super-
intendent sent messengers to the Modoc camp on
the 26th of November, 1872, to order them to
return to the reservation, and in the event of a
refusal on their part to arrange for a meeting
with them at Link River, twenty-five miles from
the Modoc camp.

They refused compliance with theorder, and also
refused to meet Superintendent Odeneal, at Link
River, saying substantially, ^*that they did not

MODOC AND LAVA BBD.

191

want to see him or talk with him ; that they did
not want any white man to tell them what to do ;
that they intended to remain where they were
and would not go to the Klamath reservation;
that they were tired of talking and were done
talking.*^

Upon receiving Captain Jack*s insolent reply
to his message^ the superintendent made applica-
tion to the military commander at Fort Klamath
for a force to "compel the Modocs to go upon the
Klamath reservation;" giving as an authority
the following words from the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs:— "You are hereby directed to
remove the Modoc Indians to Klamath reserva-
tion, peacably, if you possibly can, but forcibly
if you must** He transferred the whole matter
to Major John Green commanding the Post, with
the hope that he might accomplish the object
desired without the shedding of blood, if possible
to avoid it

In compliance with this request Captain Jack-
son, with about thirty men, left Fort Klamath on
November 28th, 1872. They arrived at the
Modoc camp on the morning of the 29th and
obtained an interview, during which he used
every argument in his power to induce them to
go. He informed them that ample provision had
been made for food and clothing, and that they

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MODOC AHD LAVA BSD.

would be protected from the annoyances of the
EUaniaths. He also assured them of the folly of
resistance to the orders of the Government
Finding his efforts unavailing^ he ordered them
to 'Uay down their arms.'' This order had been
partially obeyed and prospects were that no
serious trouble would enstrCi until the demand
was made of ^^Scai -^Hret) Charlie'' to surrender,
who refused complianct, nnd Jackson ordered an
officer to disarm him. H^ advanced to perform
the duty with pistol drawn, when both the officer
and Scar-£iiced Charlie discharged their arms, but
so nearly simultaneously that it is a matter of
doubt who fired the first shot A general engage-
ment then ensued between Jackson's forces and
the Modocs in the camp on the west side of Lost
River, composed of Captain Jack and some
twelve or fifteen other warriors with families. At
this point Lost River is a deep stream, three hun*
dred feet wide, dividing the Modoc camp.

While Captain Jack with his band occupied the
west bank, ten other warriors with their families
occupied the east side. While Jackson's forces
were taking position around Captain Jack's Camp,
a number of citizens had also taken a position
commanding the camp on the east side, and when
the former engaged in battle with Captain Jack's

MODOC AND LAVA BSD.

band on the west side, the latter soon engaged in
battle with those on the east side.

The Modocs kept up the war during the
winter, and then retreated into an almost inacces-
sible volcanic region called the Lava Beds. Here,
in the spring of 1873, the Modocs were surrounded
but not subdued. In January, 1873, a commis-
sion had been appointed by the Secretary of the
Interior to inquire into the causes of the difficul-
ties, and to procure, if possible, a peaceable solu-
tion of them. This commission, as finally com-
posed, consisted of A. B. Meacham, L. S. Dyar
and Rev. Dr. Thomas, and by the direction of the
Secretary of the Interior, under date of March 22,
1873, they were put under the direction of General
Canby. On the nth of April, a conference was
held with Captain Jack and other representative
men of the tribe, but in the midst of the council
the treacherous savages rose upon the kind-heart-
ed men who sat beside them, and murdered Gen-
eral Canby and Dr. Thomas in cold blood. Mr.
Meacham was also shot and stabbed but escaped
with his life. General Canby fell a victim to a
bullet from Captain Jack's pistol. Boston
Charley first shot Dr. Thomas, and Bogus
Charley completed the murder by shooting him
with a rifle as he was trying to escape*

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MODOC AND I^VA BBD.

When this commission went out from Gillam's
camp to meet Capt Jack, it went warned of pos*
sible treachery, and the officers and soldiers
were on the alert As soon as they heard the
firing they knew what was up. The soldiers
sprang to their arms and ran toward the Council
tent They found the dead bodies of Canby and Dn
Thomas, rescued Meacham, and met Dwyer and
Riddle thoroughly exhausted by their efforts to
escape. The murderers had fled back into the
inaccessible Lava Beds.

. This treachery and cruelty made the Modocs
objects of universal execration. Extj^rmination
of the tribe was now an ultimatum. Gillem's
entire command was moved forward in the face
of a stubborn resistance and his mortar batteries
were trained so that the shells could reach the
Indian caves. For two entire days they played
on these hiding places, and then the troops
advanced to find the Indians had escaped by the
rear, through a deep crevice more than a mile in
length. The troops had lost six killed and four-
teen wounded and the Indians eleven killed.

The Indians took a new position four miles
south of their old haunt Captain Thomas started
with a comma9d of 80 men to reconnoitre.
While stopping for luncheon, fire was opened on
them from the lava ridges around. The men

HODOC AND LAVA BBD.

IZS

became panic striken and rushed about regardless
of orders. Lieutenant Wright reached a ridge
on the the west with one company, which was
quickly decimated by bullets. Lieutenent Crans-
ton reached a ridge on the north with five men all
of whom perished. The main body followed
Wright, but they were soon cut down to twenty
men. Captain Thomas exclaimed, ^^We are
surrounded, let us die like brave men I ** They
sheltered themselves as well as they could be-
hind the rocks, but the Indians knew all the
by-paths well, and could introduce flank .firing
without danger to themselves. To add to the
horror of the situation, a scout of Warm Spring
Indians which came up to the rescue of the troops,
was mistaken for Modocs and fired upon by the
whites, and their succor was thus prevented.
Meanwhile Major Green was hastening to the
scene with all the available forces. They reached
it in time to save but few of the defeated troops.
Captain Thomas, and Lieutenants Howe, Wright
and Cranston were dead. Lieutenant Harris was
mortally wounded. Eighteen dead and seven-
teen wotmded soldiers were found ; the rest of
the soldiers gradually struggled back to camp to
tell dreadful stories of panic and hair-breadth
escapes.

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MODOC AND X^VA BBD.

General Jeflf. C Davis succeeded Canby. He
found his troops so dispirited overfailuresandloss-
es as to make a prompt movement unwise. The
Modocs inspired fear by keeping quiet No one
knew behind which lava ridge they were crouch-
ing, nor what rock might send forth a blast of
deadly bullets. At length the Indian scouts re-
ported the capture of a supply train by Modocs,
on the east side of Tule Lake. A company of
Cavalry was sent after them, which was sur-
prisedy but by dint of hard fighting drove off the
foe and pursued it back into the Lava Beds.

Davis hit on the plan of forming a number of
little camps in the Lava Beds, sufficiently near
together to be within supporting distance of one
another, and sufficiently numerous to keep the
attention of the Indians distracted. If they
attempted to surround one, they would be within
range of another. Owing to the small number
of the Indians this worked great hardship to
them. The Modoc Camp, morever, became dis-
cordant within. Hooker Jim and Jack quarrelled,
and their bands separated, both leaving the Lava
Beds. Hooker Jim*s party was pursued for fifty
miles, the entire way being a series of skirmishes.
At length it was run down and forced to sur-
render. Then Hooker Jim, Bogus Charley^
Shack-nasty Jim and Steamboat Frank, volun«

MODOC AND LAVA BBD.

teered to go as scouts to find Captain Jack and
secure his surrender. They found him on Wil-
low Creek, but he would die with his gun in his
hand rather than surrender. The troops were
following in the direction taken by the scouts,
and when informed of the position of Jack's party
and of his refusal to surrender, they surrounded
him in the Willow Creek Canyon. Boston
Charley came out with seven women and sur-
rendered. Jack and the rest of his party escaped
by running down the canyon they were pursued
over hill and through canyon to the bluffs on
LangelVs Valley. Here they made a stand, but
as the soldiers approached, firing, five Indians
rushed forward and surrendered. Jack, with the
remaining warriors fled in the night

There was another hunt after Jack. He was
again scented out and surrounded. " He now de-
sired to surrender. Coming out of his haunt and
glaring about him he said to the scouts "My
legs have given out.** He was taken to the camp
near Clear Lake, where word of his capture was
received with joy. One by one the rest of his
band was picked up, and the bloody Modoc war
came to an end. The loss of life was great
measured by the rank and importance of the
killed, though in numbers it was not large.
Neither was it great on the part ofl the Indiansip

%_7

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MODOC AMD LAVA BED.

But the war cost the govemment fully half a
million dollars.

General Davis wanted to hang half a score of
the surrendered Indians without trial ; but the
Government ordered a trial by a Military Com-
mission at Fort Klamath. Captain Jack^ Schon-
chin John, Black Jim, Boston Charlie, One-eyed
Jim and Slolox were arraigned for murder. Cap-
tain Jack made a powerful defence, but there
could be but one result. They were all found
guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Two of
them had their sentences changed to imprison-
ment for life ; the rest were executed at Fort
Klamath, October 3, 1873. They were all hang-
ed from one long scaffold, which they mounted
firmly and with the assurance that they were
"ready to go to the Great Father.** The Klamath
.Indians to the number of 500 witnessed the
execution* They had done much to instigate the
Modoc uprising, and yet were their chief accusers.

Several of the Modocs, held as prisoners, were
murdered. The rest of the tribe was sent east to
the Quapaw agency, where their chief. Bogus
Charlie, has taught them industry and good be-
havior. A few of the very worst were sent to
Fort Marion, in Florida, and placed in training
there. They became converts to Christianity.

Chapter XIV.
CUSTER AND THE SIOUX

THE Sioux war of 1876 " was dishonorable to
the nation, and disgraceful to those who
originated it" Such is the language of the
Commissioners, appointed to negotiate for
the surrender of the Black Hills and unceded
Indian country, defined in the treaty of 1868, in
their report to the .President made on the x8th
day of December, 1876.

By the treaty of 1868, it will be remembered,
there was set apart for the absolute and undis-
turbed use of the Sioux, for their permanent
home, all that part of Dakota lying south of par-
allel 46 and east of the Missouri River, together
with the reservations on the east side of the Mis-
souri and the country lying north of the North
Platte River and east of the summit of the Big
Horn Mountains. According to the terms of the
treaty this reservation " is set apart for the abso-
lute and undisturbed .use and occupation of
the Indians herein named and for such other
friendly tribes or individual Indians as from timeT^

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CUSTER AND THE SIOUX.

to time they may be willing^ with the consent of
the United States^ to admit amongst them ; and
the United States now solemnly agrees that no
persons, except those therein designated and au-
thorized so to dO) and except such officers, agents
and employees of the Government as may be
authorized to enter upon Indian reservations in
discharge of duties enjoined by law, shall ever be
permitted to pass over, settle upon, or reside in
the territory described in this article, or in such
territory as may be added to this reservation for
the use of said Indians. '* Another article pro-
vides, ** that the country north of Ihe North
Platte and east of the Big Horn Mountains, shall
be held and considered unceded Indian territory,
and the United States also stipulates and agrees
that no white person or persons shall be per-
mitted to settle upon or occupy any portiou of the
same, or without the consent of the Indians first
had and obtained, to pass through the same."
The Indians on their part agree ^' to relinquish
all right permanently to occupy the territory
outside of theii reservation as defined in the
treaty, but yet reserve the right to hunt on any
lands north of the North Platte, and on the Re-
publican fork of the Smoky Hill River." The
United States also agreed to abandon the Mon-
tana xx)ad with all the forts along it It was left

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CUSTBR AND THE 8IOUX.

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RSDOjOinS.

to the Indians to choose whether they would be
farmers or hunters. To the farmers, however, a
larger annuity would be given. Owing to lack
of rain, abundance of grasshoppers, and their own
inclination, many of them naturally continued to
follow the chase.

In less than three months after this treaty was
ratified and proclaimed, it was violated by the
government On June aoth, 1869, General Sher-
idan« by order of General Sherman, issued the
following military order: ^^All Indians, when on
their proper reservations, are under the exclusive
control and jurisdiction of their agents ; they will
not be interfered with in any manner by the mil-
itary authority, except upon requisition of the
special agent resident. with them, his superin-
tendent, or the bureau of Indian Affairs at Wash-
ington. Outside the well defined limits of their
reservations, they are under the original and ex-
clusive authority of the military, and as a rule
will be considered hostile."

Though this order was in direct violation of
certain provisions of the treaty of x868, granting
the privilege of roaming and hunting on the
uuceded Indian country, yet it was inexorably
executed, the Indians were attacked and punished
whenever they could be found by the military.
The Indians could not understand why they J p

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CtJSTBR AND TBB 8I0UZ.

should be thus hunted, harassed and punished by
the soldiers, since they were only exercising a
right secured to them by the treaty, especially
as they still continued to receive the annuity
granted to the Indians that hunted and roamed.
While the Sioux were punished for not obeying
a military order, given in violation of the treaty,
the whites were making constant incursions upon
their territory.

When the treaty was made in 1868, the coun-
try set apart for the Indians was supposed to be
in a large part of waste and barren land. But
between 1868 and 1876, when war was declared
against the Sioux, many and great changes had
taken place. These changes were due to the
settling of the new country, adjacent to the In-
dian reservations, opened up by the North Pacific
Railroad and numerous minor lines, and the
•*Black Hills" gold fever. Great numbers of
these settlers began to look with longing eyes
towards the Black HiUs, which by the treaty of
1868 was declared to be an inviolable part of the
Sioux reservation. Indians, from time to time,
brought in gold dust and nuggets to the trading
posts. When questioned, they admitted that
they found it in the Black Hills. The story
spread like wildfire and the excitement waxed
high in the west Parties of miners began to

CX78TBR AND THE 8I0UX.

X33

organize for the new Eldorado and the govern-
ment was petitioned to sanction this trespass.
Notwithstanding the protests of the Indians,
numerous expeditions under the escort and pro-
tection of the Military were made into the Black
Hills and other parts of their reservation.
But what incensed the Sioux most was the
formidable expedition fitted out under General
Custer in the Summer of 1874. This strong col-
umn was formed with the avowed purpose of
ascertaining whether gold was to be found there.
It consisted of ten companies of the Seventh
Cavalry, Company I, Twentieth Infantry and
Company G, Seventeenth Infantry, with sixty
Indian scouts and four Gatling guns. General
Forsyth was with the column.

There was little or no danger to the powerful
column either real or apprehended. It started
on a romantic and mysterious expedition, as if
for a picnic, and as such it found the whole
journey. When Custer applied for Indian
scouts, who were Sioux, to accompany the ex-
pedition they were very much surprised. They
hesitated and expressed regret, but could not do
otherwise than obey the summons. Custer^s re-
ports of the progress of this expedition was given
in such glowing terms that those who hearjd grew

wild with excitement **Not only ^ms thfi^re^oldl ^

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CUSTBR AND THB SIOUX,

to be found, but the country was beautiful beyond
description and not the barren waste heretofore
supposed.

The next morning, although loath to leave so
enchanting a locality, we continued to ascend this
valley until gradually, almost imperceptibly, we
discovered that we were on the crest of the west-
em ridge of the Black Hills ; and instead of being
among barren, rocky peaks, as might be supposed,
we found ourselves wending our way through a
little park, whose natural beauty may well bear
comparison with the loveliest portions of Central
Park. Favored as we had been in having Floral
Valley for our roadway to the west of the Black
Hills, we were scarcely less fortunate in the val-
fey, which seemed to me to meet us on the interior
Flope."

This expedition remained out until September,
and further explorations only confirmed Custer's
first impressions. Upon its return a full report
was given in which the people were told that it
was a " goodly land," beautiful to look upon,
abounding in good water, timber and grass. Yes,
and gold was to be found there. It was this con-
firmation of former reports that kept the covetous
eyes of the whites turned towards the Black Hills,
and more mining parties were organized and
started for them. The Northern Pacific Railroad^

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CUSTBR AKD THB SIOUX,

X35

too,. changed its line from the north to the south
side of the Yellowstone river

This change was very objectionable to tlie
nomad Sioux^ they claiming that it was in
violation of the treaty of 1868, and that it fright-
ened away the buflFalo, They therefore drove
off the surveying parties who attempted to run
this new line. Numerous depredations were
committed upon the Indians by the white rowdies,
horse-theives, and scalawags, who congregate in
a new and lawless country. They also preyed
upon the white settlers, and most of this was
credited to the Indians. Stock was taken from
the Indians and by the Indians. Blood was
shed on both sides. The Indians were branded
as ^**fiends ** while the outlaws who preyed upon
both white and Indians were termed the " pio-
neers of the frontier.** All this was not cal-
culated to soothe the savage breast and make it
tender and loving toward the white man.

Some officers who did not accompany the
Custer expedition characteh ed his report as
baseless and exaggerated. General Hazen des-
ignated all that part of the Northwest as a
*• Barren Belt." A dispute also arose among the
geologists, as to the mining value of the Black
Hills. Another expedition was therefore sent

out in the Summer of 1875, under Pjqfossoj^T^

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CUSTBR AND THB SIOUX.

Jenney, with a military escort under Lieutenant
Colonel Dodge. They entered Floral Valley a
month earlier than Custer had, and were greeted
by a violent storm of sleet, but later on found
both soil and climate congenial. They also
found the country full of miners, contrary to the
treaty stipulations. General Crook was instructed
to order them to leave.

A month later, on August lo, 1875, ^^ Cloud
said to Governor Fletcher, of Missouri, who was
at the Red Cloud agency: "Now as to those
Black Hills, Our Great Father has got a great
many soldiers, and I never knew him, when he
wanted to stop anything with his soldiers, but he
succeeded in it The reason I tell you this, is
that the people from the states who have gone to
the Black Hills, are stealing our gold, digging it
out and taking it away, and I don't see why the
Great Father don't bring them back. To this
the- Governor replied: — ^•^The Great Father has
ordered these people away from there in five days
from now, and if they do not go, he will bring
•them out with his soldiers.'' On the next day.
Sitting Bull said : — ^**You told me yesterday that
the troops would take all the white people away
from the Black Hills by the Z5th of August, and
the young men were all very glad to know that
these miners were to be out of the Black Hills

CUSTBR AND THB SIOUX.

X37

before the Northern Indians came down to the
grand council." In reply to Sitting Bull, Gover-
nor Fletcher said : — ^**I saw General Crook, and
he said he had orders from the President to get
these miners all out by the 15th of this month, .
and the miners have all agreed to go by that
time."

General Crook went to the hills and advised
the miners to leave. Some did so in good faith,
others went away to return again, still others
doggedly remained. General Crook reported that
he had given them time to secure themselves
against loss, but that the sentiment was strong
against removaL They charged that the Indians
violated the treaties every year by their predatory
incursions. He advised that steps be taken to se-
cure a cession of the mining regions from the In-
dians. If this was not done there would surely
be trouble when the miners attempted to return.

In Nov. 1875, E. C. Watkins, Indian Commis-
sioner, reported that the "Sioux country is prob- "^ /,
ably the best hunting ground in the United *'
States, a paradise for Indians, affording game in;
such variety and abundance that the need of
government supplies is not felt. Perhaps for
this' reason they have never accepted aid or been
brought under control. They openly set at de-
fiance all law and authority, and boast that the T

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CUSTBH AND THB 8I0UX.

United States are not strong enough to conquer
them. The troops are held in contempt, and, sur-
rounded by their native mountains, relying on
their knowledge of the country and powerful en-
durance, they laugh at the futile efforts that have
thus far been made to subjugate them, and scorn
the idea of white civilization. They are lofty and
independent in their attitude and language
toward the government officials, as well as the
whites generally, and claim to be the sovereign
rulers of the land. They say they own the wood,
the water, the ground, the air, and that white men
Kve in or pass through their country but by their
sufferance. They are rich in horses and robes,
and are thoroughly armed. Nearly every warrior
carries a breech loading gun, a pistol, a bow, and
a quiver of arrows. Inspector Watkins did not
seem to be familiar with the terms of the treaty
of 1868, by which these wild bands of Sioux had
the right guaranteed to them to roam and hunt
in the valleys where they then were, and in all
other parts of the unceded Indian country, as
long as game abounded.

In December, 1875, the Secretary of the Inter.
ior ordered the Sioux to remove to a reservation
on penalty of being reported to the War Depart-
ment as hostiles. This order was sent to the
agents of the respective tribes, to be commun-

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CUST8R AND THB 8I0UX.

139

icated to Sitting Bull and other wild Indians.
This order was to take eflfect in January, 1876.
These wild Indians were nomads, roaming and
huntingon unceded lands by virtue of the treaty of
1868. Some of the Indians acquiesced in the
order, others knew that there was not food
enough for them at the agencies, and so declined
to come till they had supplied themselves with
buffalo meat, still others never heard of the order.
Sitting Bull sent word that he would not comply.
Very many of the agency Indians were out hunt-
ing. These were disarmed as they returned.
When this became known the hunting parties
still out refused to return, but joined the forces
of Sitting Bull.

Sitting Bull's declination was anticipated, and
he and his followers were turned over to the tender
mercy of the War Department. An expedition
was speedily dispatched against them, in which
the miners were a unit with the troops, for it was
clear that the Black Hills region must be wrested
from the Indians*

The war, aptly styled **the crime of the cen-
tennial year," was therefore begun against the
Sioux. Three colums of troops were ordered to
concentrate on the upper waters of the Yellow-
stone. General Terry started from Fort Lincoln

with one column, 1,000 strong, in yl^i^K JK*?^!^

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CUSTBR AND THK 8I0UX*

Custer's command. General Crook had com«
mand of the Fort Fetterman column, 1,300 men.
General Gibbon led the one from Fort Ellis, with
400 men. Crook reached the field first and sent
General Reynolds to look up the band of Crazy
Horse, then encamped near Bear Butte, and de«
tained there by the cold weather. On March 17,
1876, Re3molds surprised this camp, capturing
800 ponies, and destroying the teepes and goods.
The Indians rallied on the mountain sides and
made a determined stand, pouring in a destructive
fire on the troops. The troops were re-inforced
and finally succeeded in beating the Indians off,
so that a retreat could be effected. This retreat
was kept up for 20 miles, during which the
whites lost most of the captured ponies. In this
engagement the Indians were surprised but by
no means beaten. Crook returned to Fort Fetter,
man, on account of the cold, where he remained
till May 29th.

This expedition gave rise to the impression
that the hostile Sioux were not so numerous as
had been supposed. This false impression be-
came the basis of future forces and movements.
How fatal it was, we shall soon see. Crook opened
his summer campaign by marchings from For
Fetterman to Fort Reno. By June 8th he was
on Tongue River, where he was joined by a num-

CUSTER AND TBB SIOUX.

I4t

ber of Crow, Shoshone and Nez Perces Indians as
scouts. The camps of Sittiug Bull and Crazy
Horse were reported to be ou the Rosebud River.
Thither Crook marched expecting to surprise the
camp. But he was suddeuly attacked by Sitting
Bull, and the "Battle of the Rosebud" was fought
June 17th, 1876. Crook deployed to a disadvan-
tage owing to the contour of the ground. Sit-
ting Bull handled his forces with great skill,
taking advantage of every defect in Crook^s lines.
The ground was hotly contested, and the white
troops were forced into a retreat, which for a time
foreboded disaster. But they were reformed and
pushed the battle with great gallantry, finally
holding the field, but unable to pursue and pun-
ish.

The two colums of Terry and Gibbon had com-
municated with each other near the junction of
the Tongue and Yellowstone Rivers. The In-
dians were found to be in force beyond the Yel-
lowstone, and Terry began to feel for them along
the lines of the Powder, Tongue, Rosebud, Little
and Big Horn Rivers. Major Reno was sent
with six companies of the 7th Cavalry to the
Powder River with orders to communicate with
Crook. He found neither Crook nor Indians.
Both the Tongue and Powder Rivers were de-
clared to be free from Indians.. . The search ni

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CUSTBR AND TUB SIOUX.

rowed to the Rosebud and Big and Little Horn
Rivers. As soon as Terry received Reno's report
lie ordered General Custer to march to a point
south of Gibbotti on the Yellowstone. Terry
kept abreast of his column, on the little steamer
Far West. When Gibbon's camp was reached,
a consultation was held. . It was believed the In-
dians were on the Rosebud or Little or Big Horn
and Terry announced that General Custer should
strike them a blow.

Custer started up the Rosebud on June 22ud,
with orders to proceed south to the head-waters
of the Tongue, and then turn toward the Little
Big Horn, but leaving him unhampered should
occasion require. Colonel Gibbon's column was
already in motion toward the mouth of the Big
Horn, intending to cross and move to the parks
of the Big and Little Big Horn. Custer and
Gibbon were to communicate as often as possible.

Custer marched his regiment twelve miles up
the Rosebud on June 22nd. On the 23rd and
24th he continued his march, follo\;(dng an Indian
trail, which freshened every mile. He then halted
to await his scouts. The report came that the
Indian camp seemed to be on the Little Big Horn.
To reach it the divide between the Rosebud and
the Little Big Horn would have to be crossed?
and in order to do this in safety the march would

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CUSTER AND THE SIOUX. 143

have to be at night. The movement began at 11
P. M., of the 24th| and the column filed up a
branch of the Rosebud, which headed near the
summit of the divide. The scouts brought word
that the divide could not be crossed except in
daylight. A halt was called; breakfast was
taken. At 8 A. M. of the 25th the divide was
crossed and the column began to descend a branch
of the Little Big Horn. Indians had been seen
and a surprise was now out of the question. It
was determined to move in direct attack. Custer
kept command of Companies C, £, F, I and L.
Renocommanded Companies M, A and G. Ben-
teen commanded Companies H, D and K. Mc-
I Dougall held Company B as a guard for the train.
Reno moved to the left ; Benteen further to the
left Custer kept to the right of the creek. In
this order the forces moved down toward the Little
Big Horn and the valley. By 12.30 P. M., the
.village was reported as only two miles ahead and
running away. Reno was ordered to push for-
ward as fast as possible, aiid he would be sup-
ported by all the rest. He quicked marched for
two miles to a fording, stopped to gather his bat-
talions, and. sent hasty word to Custer that the
enemy was in force before him, and strong. He
deployed and charged down the valley, driving
the Indians for over two miles with| great ease. , *

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X44 CUSTBR AND THB SIOXJX.

Fearing a trap and not finding the support Cus*
ter had promised, yet not wishing to retreat,
though the Indians began to swarm around him,
he dilsmounted his men, and took possession of a
point of wood for defence He soon found he
was fighting odds five to one, and that he must
get out of the woods to escape being surrounded
and captured. He remounted his men and
charged on the Indians between him and the
bluflFs on the opposite side of the river. This
desperate charge cost him the lives of 3 officers
and 29 men.

He gained the blufifs, however, and was met by
Benteen's three companies, which raised
his force to 380 men. Hearing nothing
of Custer, and thus reinforced, he moved along
the blufifs toward the Indian camp again. Firing
was heard ofif in the direction of the village. The
supposition was it was Custer, and an efiPort was
made to communicate with him, which failed.
Reno then returned to his first position on the
blufifs, dismounted his men, sheltered their horses
in a depression, and had hardly done so when he
was furiously attacked. The attack lasted till
9 P. M.. and occasioned a loss of x8 killed and
46 wounded. .

Reno was now impressed with the fact that
the overwhelming force of the enemy would pre-

CUSTER AND TH» SIOUX.

vent Custer from coming to his support He
therefore dug rifle pits and prepared barricades
of dead horses and muk?, so as to be prepared
for the next day. All night his men worked
within sound of a scalp-dance in the valley below.
At half past two in the morning his positon sud-
denly became the centre of a terrific fusilade,
which increased till daylight. Reno found him-
self completely surrounded by swarms of daring
savages, who boldly charged his lines at 9 A. M.,
but were repulsed. On the morning of the 27th,
troops were seen- coming to their relief. Where
was Custer all this time ? Of all his command
there was only one left to tell, Curly, the Crow
Indian Scout. His story runs :

Custer, with his five companies, after separa-
ting from Reno and his seven companies, moved
to the right around the base of a high hill over-
looking the valley of the Little Horn. There
were no signs of Indians in the hills on that side
(the right) of the Little Horn, and the colunni
moved steadily on until it rounded the hill and
came in sight of the village lying in the valley
below them. Custer appeared very much elated,
and ordered the bugles to sound a charge, and
moved on at the head of his column, waving his
hat to encourage his men. When they neared
the river, the Indians, concealed inithe, under- T/>

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146

CUSTBR AND THB SIOUX.

growth on the opposite side of the stream, opened
fire on the troops, which checked the advance.
Here a portion of the command were dismounted
and thrown forward to the river, and returned
the fire of the Indians. During this time the
warriors were seen riding out of the village by
hundreds, and deplo3ring across Custer's front
and to his left, while the women and children >
-were seen hastening out of the village in large
numbers in the opposite direction. During the
fight at this point, Curly saw two of Custer's *
men killed, who fell into the stream. After fight-
ing a few moments here, Custer seemed to be
convinced that it was impracticable to cross, as it
only could be done in column of fours, exposed
during the movement to a heavy fire from the
front and both flanks. He therefore ordered the
head of the column to the left, and bore diag*
onally into the hills, down stream, his men on
foot leading their horses.

In the meantime the Indians had crossed the
river (below) in immense numbers, and began to
appear on his right flank and in his rear ; a,nd
he had proceeded but a few hundred yards in the
new directidn the column had taken, when it be
came necessary to renew the fight with the In-
.dians who had crossed the stream. At first the
command remained together, but after some min-

CUSTER AKD THE SIOUX.

'47

utes fighting it was divided, a portion deploying
circularly to the left, and the remainder similarly
to the right, so that when the Hue was formed,
it bore a rude resemblance to a circle, advantage
being taken, as far as possible, of the protection
afforded by the ground. The horses were in the
rear, the men on the line being dismounted, fight-
ing on foot. Of the incidents of the fight in other
parts of the field than his own. Curly was not
well-informed, as he was himself concealed in a
deep ravine, from which but a small part of the
field was visible.

The fight appeared to have begun, about 2.30
or 3 o'clock P. M., on the 25th, and continued
without intermssion until nearly sunset. The
Indians had completely surrounded the command
leaving their horses in ravines well to the rear
themselves pressing forward to the attack on foot
Confident in the great superiority of their num-
bers, they made several charges on all points of
Custer's lines, but the troops held their position
firmly, and delivered a heavy fire, which every
time drove them back. The firing was a conrin-
uous roll, or, as he expressed it, "like the snapping
of threads in the tearing of a blanket" The
troops expended all the ammunition in their belts,
and then sought their horses for the reserve am-
munition carried in their saddle packets. ,^ ^ ■ ^

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CUSTER AMD THB SIOUX.

As longas their ammunition beldout^ the troops,
though losing considerably in the fight, main-
tained their position in spite of all the efforts of
the Sioux. Prom the weakening of their fire
toward the close of the afbemoon, the Indians
appeared to believe that their ammunition was
about exhausted, and they made a grand final
charge, in the course of which the last of the
command was destroyed, the men being shot
where they lay in their positions in the line, at
such close quarters that many were killed with
arrows. Curly said that Custer remained alive
throughout the greater part of the engagement,
animating his men to determine resistance, but
about an hour before the close of the fight he
received a mortal wound.

The Crow said, further, that the field was
thickly strewn with the dead bodies of the Sioux,
who fell in the attack — ^in numbers considerably
more than the force of soldiers engaged. He was
satisfied that their loss exceeded aoo killed, be-
sides an immense number wounded. Curly ac-
complished his escape by drawing his blanket
around him in the manner of the Sioux, and
passing through an interval which had been
made in their lines as they scattered over the
field in their final chB'^^t.

OUSTER AND THE SIOUX.

In most particulars the account given by Curly
of the fight is confirmed by the position of the
trail made by Custer in his movements and the
general evidences of the battle field. The
famous Sioux chief, Gall, who had an important
command among the hostiles during the battle, on
being taken over the field in 1888, by the officers at
Fort Custer, confirmed the statement of the Crow
scout Custer, according to Gall, did not succeed
in crossing the river.

He saw at a glance that he was overpowered,
and did the only thing proper under the circum-
stances, iu leading his commandto higher ground
wbere it could defend itself to some advantage.
Even in that dread extremity, his soldier spirit
and noble bearing held the men under control,
and the dead bodies of the troopers of Calhoun's
and Keough*s companies, found by General Gib-
bon's command lying in ranks as they fell, at-
tested the cool generalship exhibited by the heroic
leader in the midst of deadly peril. It had
always been General Custer's habit to divide his
command when attacking Indian villages. His
victory over Black Kettle on the Washita was
obtained in that manner, but the experiment
proved fatal to Major Elliott, and a considerable
squad of soldiers. It was the general opinion in
Crook's command at the time, thaJt 1^^J^<#^

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CU8TBR AND TBB SIOUX.

of more resolution been in Major Reno's place,
he would have attempted to join Custer at any
cost Reno was, no doubt, imposed upon by
Indian strategy, and his retreat to the bluflFs, was
to say the least of it, premature. But, in the
light of after events, it does not seem probable
that he could have reached the fatal heights upon
which Custer and his men perished. Had Custer
taken his entire regiment into the fight he might
still have sustained a repulse, but would have es-
caped annihilation.

Meanwhile Gibbon had pushed his command
forward so that he could reach the Little Big
Horn by scouts. On the morning of the a6th,
three Crow scouts brought him word of Custer's
massacre. Gibbon then entered the valley of
Little Big Horn with his whole Infantry force.
The enemy retreated, and Gibbon forced his men
ahead till he reached the fortified position held by
Reno. The rescue was a welcome one, for Reno
was holding on with sheer desperation and was
liable to Custer's fate at any moment. The
Indians quailed before the advent of Gibbon's
command and took to the mountains, burning all
they could not carry.

Gibbon started to find Custer. A march of a
few miles brought him upon the field of blood.
The sight that met his eyes was shocking in the

CU8TBR. AND THE SIOUX.

15X

extreme. Over those bluffs, naked and mutilated,
were thickly strewn the dead bodies of Custer's
men. Near the summit, they found the body of
the gallant Custer. * Gibbon's regiment buried
the dead on the field where they fell. After the
dead were buried, Generals Terry and Gibbon
slowly and sadly retraced their way to Rosebud
Landing, on the Yellowstone, where, like Crook,
they awaited re-inforcements.

The Indians now divided. Sitting Bull kept
the Valley of Long Fork, while Crazy Horse
moved eastward. Re-inforcements were hurried
to the seat of war. Crook scouted Tongue
River, and started for the Black Hills. General
McKenzie moved in October upon the Red Cloud
Agency and siezed the arms and ponies belonging
to Red Cloud's band. This was white savagery
in the extreme, yet war seemed to justify it by
the fact that so many of the agency Indians were
deserting, with their arms, to the hostiles.

It was in October, 1876, that General Miles
was met by Sitting Bull with propositions for
peace. He would listen to no terms that deprived
him of his right to live as a free Indian. The
dissolution of the Council meant that hostilities
would be renewed. Both sides took position and
a battie ensued in which the Indians were routed
and chased for forty miles. 400 lodges surren-

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X59

CU8TBR AMD THE SIOTOL

dered^and 119 gained the Yankton reservation,
where they dissolved. Sitting Bull escaped to
the north.

A new expedition was fitted out by General
Crook, and on the 7th of December, Lieutenant
Baldwin attacked Sitting Bull and drove him
across the Missouri. On the i8th he surprised
their camp, capturing all its contents.* In a state
of destitution, Sitting Bull's band escaped across
the Yellowstone where he received word from
Crazy Horse to join his camp.

This was prevented by General Miles. Crazy
Horse was driven from his winter camp on the
Tongue River, and followed until on the morn-
ing of Jan. 8th, a fight ensued between Miles*
force and 600 braves, in which the Indians were
repulsed with heavy loss and driven back over
the Wolf Mountains whence they fled to the Big
Horn range. Here Miles sent word to them that
they must surrender. This they concluded to do.
On May 6th, 889 people and 2,000 ponies under
Crazy Horse, came into Camp Robinson and
.cnrrendered to General Crook. Sitting Bull and
the remnant of his little band fled across the
Canada line where he was joined by other
Chiefs. On the 30th day of July 1881, Sitting
Bull returned with all that was left of his once
powerful camp, and surrendered at Port Buford.

Chapter XV.
THE NEZ PERCES WARS.

IN these pages the reader has already become
, acquainted with the Nez Perces, and has
learned that they have, as a rule, been friend*
ly. Their friendship has been sorely tested
at times, both by their surroundings and by the
folly of the whites, but it has ever proved of good
quality. They invited missionaries in early
times, they shared the patriotic enmity of our
settlers against the encroachments of England,
when her Hudson Bay Company would have
stolen the whole of the North-west territory, they
oflFered protection to the Lapwai mission after
Whitman had fallen at Wailatpu, they stood for
peace during the disturbances of 1855. While
they may not have been forward in adopting the
civilization of the white man, they have always
proved a friend.

They are racially, upper and lower Nez Perces.
Ofthe latter, Joseph was chief, when Whitman
was massacred. He came to meet the Oregon
Volunteers with the speech .-—"When I left home t

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154

THB KBZ PBRCBS WARS.

I took the Book in my hand and brought it with
me. It is my light. I heard the Americans
were coming to kill me. Still I held my Book
before me and came on.'*

The Nez Perces never had a central chief of
their own choosing. The Upper and Lower na-
tions conceded the right of visitation, hunting and
fishing to each other, but as to the control of
their lands, the right was in the tribe which oc-
cupied them permanently.

The Nez Perces occupied desirable seats, so far
as their tastes went The Lower Nez Perces
were bounded on one side by the Snake River,
and on the other by the Blue Mountains. Between
are mountains and valleys, in such rapid success-
sion as to make the country undesirable for
whites, yet loveable to the Indians. Their Chief
Joseph was an astute pliilosopher, with notions
of land tenure that astonished those who came to
treat with him and with a care for his people
that was patriarchal. He would not sell land
because no man owned any part of the earth. It
was God's gift to all, and for a man to assume to
part with what was not his own was impious. He
refused to ratify the treaty of 1859, and advised
his people not to receive the money and presents
offered by the Government, lest the white man

THB NBZ PBRCBS WARS.

155

should say he had bought what the Indian could

not sell.

By 1863 the encroachment of the whites on the
Nez Perces was such, and the quality of the
whisky sold them was so bad, that conflicts arose
and another treaty, as a means of further cheat-
ing them, was deemed necessary. By this treaty
the Uppef Nez Perces agreed to accept the limits
of the reservation mapped for them at LapwaL
The Lower Nez Perces refused to join in the
treaty. But that did not save their lands 'for
them.

The Upper Nez Perces sold all their lands, not
set forth in their reservation. This sale, by
judicial knavery known only where English is
spoken, was made to comprehend the lands of the
Lower Nez Perces. The logic was that inas-
much as Joseph had joined the other chiefs in
giving title to lands sold as far back as 1855,
he thereby acknowledged the tribal relation of
the Nez Perces. Therefore, when the Northern
Nez Perces chose to sell lands, they necessarily
sold tribal lands, that is they sold Joseph*s lands,
or the lands of the Lower Nez Perces. This/
trick of law and travesty on justice was an after-
thought on the part of the authorities, for Joseph
died in 1871, in blissful ignorance of the fact that
his tribe had no place in whicjjjtg^^b^ qqq|^

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THB K£Z PERCKS WARS.

THS MEZ PBRCBS WARS.

157

Joseph was succeeded by his sou, Thuuder-
travcUing-ovcr-the-MounUius. He was the
younger Joseph of the Nez Perces, six feet tall,
grave and cautious, exact and resolute. He and
his brother Ollacut were educated in Mrs. Spal-
ding's Mission School, Though the whites con-
tinued to swarm in his country, he ruled so as to
avoid war. Even when outrages on Indians
began in 1871, he took no revenge, but never
abated his argument that the white man should
leave the country.

In 1875 and 1876, the conduct of the whites
became unbearable. Indians were killed in
sprees and quarrels, and yet no murder could be
indicted. Joseph relied on that broken reed —
the law, but it never came to vindicate the
wronged of his tribe. In 1873 the question of
title to the lands of the Lower Nez Perces reached
a crisis. It was not thought that the sale made
of outside lands by the Upper Nez Perces included
those of the Lower Nez Perces. So steps were
taken to set the Wallowa section off as a reserva-
tion for the Lower Nez Perces. Congress refused
to confirm the steps, for the reasons given above.
The lands had already been sold and the Lower
Nez Perces would have to go on the Lapwai res-
ervation with their northern brothers.

The consummation of this outrage excited the
. attentioa of many people in Oregon who had not
forgotten the good servicesof the NezPerces in the
past They interested themselves in the forma-
tion of a commission to investigate the matter.
General O. O. Howard, then commanding the
District of Columbia, was made a member of
the Commission. The Commission met at Lap-
wai and hadlong talks with the Chiefs. Joseph quite
non-plussed them with the wisdom and truth of
his statements. But marvelous as it may seem,
though there was no attempt to counteract his
wisdom, or dispute his facts, this Commission
chosen in a christian spirit and for the purpose of
meting justice, ratified the sale of Joseph's lands
without his consent, and decided that if the
Lower Nez Perces did not leave their country and
go on to the Lapwai reservation they should be
driven there by force. The same Commission
recommended that the Cayuses, Umatillas and
Walla-Walla^s vacate their peaceful homes and
go on to the Umatilla reservation, because their
numbers were too small to hold such quantities
of land when so many white agriculturists were
waiting to occupy them.

General Howard was the ageht to enforce the
decision of the Commission, by virtue of his office.
He held several councils, which were of no avjul

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THE NBZ PBRCBS WARS.

except in that it was made plain that the Indians
must go on to the Lapwai reservation or fight
Joseph decided not to fight, but he could not
control all his chiefs. Too-hul-hul-sute coun*
seled resistance, and Joseph's decision was over-
ruled. They formed war parties, armed them-
selves thoroughly, practiced infantry and cavalry
tactics. When the 30 days given them to vacate
were up they were in excitement ready to resist.
Their young bucks could not be restrained, and
they engaged in murderous excesses. Blood
whetted their appetites and they rode to camps
showing the scalps they had taken. Joseph
and Ollacut remained unmoved, but White
Bird gave way and joined the riotous throng.
Twenty warriors rode out of camp and
back to Salmon River. Each one had his spite
against some settler who had wronged him, and
his hour for revenge had come. Several mur*
ders were . committed and many houses were
burned. These excesses were only drawing on
them a sorry fate. They niade war inevitable,
but not until it became so did Joseph cease his
advice for peace. Then he took command, and
moved his forces to White Bird Canyon.

Colonel Perry came up in haste from Fort
Lapwai, with 90 men. He entered the canyon»
across which Joseph had stretched his men, hid«

THE NHZ PERCES WARS.

159

den by bushes and rocks. He had also ambush-
ed a party of cavalry behind a hill ou the south
of the canyon. When the soldiers came within
range every bush and rock poured out its con-
cealed fire. At the same moment the mounted
warriors appeared on the left. Perry deployed
his force so as to meet both attacks. Men were
falling thick and fast The cry of " fall back to
the next ridge ** was heard. The troops fell back,
but the enemy were on their heels. The troops
were in confusion. They could not stop at the
ridge and all efforts to rally them proved unsuc-
cessful. The Indians were pressing in on all
sides to sunder the column and cut off retreat.
Captain Teller was cut off, and wheeled into a
side ravine, only to have his command cut to
pieces. A. few only struggled up the steep sides
and made their escape. The troops were now in
full retreat, and were pursued for twelve miles.
Sixt3F-five of them made their escape and re-form-
ed far from the scene of battle and defeat. The
quiet, unostentatious, friendly nation of Indians
was in a twinkling transformed into doughty
warriors, whose conquest would require heavy re-
inforcements.

Additional troops were sent from all points.
Skirmishing became almost continuous. The
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THB NBZ PKRCBS WARS.

THB KBZ PBRCBS WARS.

tSz

and destroyed, but his warriors escaped to Joseph.
Lieutenant Rains and ten men went on a scout
The entire force was killed. General Howard
came up with all the troops he could muster—
400 fighting men, with gatling guns and a how-
itzer. Joseph had crossed to the Clear Water
with 300 warriors. Here battle was joined.
The troops had left their supply trains ungardcd.
Joseph saw this and sent 30 warriors to capture
it They were driven oflF by the cavalry, who
detected the move in the nick of time. All after-
noon the main battle progressed. Charges and
countercharges were made with varying eflfects.
All night both sides strengthened their positions
and kept up the firing. In the morning fierce
battle was renewed and continued till noon.
Howard received a re-inforcement of cavalry,
which joined the artillery in a charge on the In'
diansleft. The fighting was furious for some time,
but the Indians recoiled, broke and fled across
the Clear Water, where they re-formed in suffic-
ient numbers to protect the flight of the rest
They were pursued by the troops, the next

morning, but thepursuingcolumnwasambushed
by ^e rear guard of the Nez Perces and thrown
into confusion* Night found the Indians strong-
ly encamped at the entrance to Solo trail.
Joscph^s second battle had not been a victory but

* \

he had conducted a masterly retreat It was de-
signed to trap Joseph in this long and tortuous
trail. But he was too wary for the troops. He
threaded its mazes to the valley of the Lou-Lou,
and thence to the Bitter Root General Gibbon,
with a force of 190 cavalry from Helena, tried to
intercept them on the Bitter Root, but failed.
They had gone into the valley of the Big Hole
River. Here they thought they were secure,
but Gibbon had followed them closely and caught
up with them. In the dim light of early mom*
ing he struck their camp and charged completely
through it The surprise seemed complete, but
the warriors rallied and retook their camp. They
drove the troops back behind defences and kept
up battle with them through the day. Gibbon
fell, wounded, and his hoMritzer fell a prize to the
enemy. At night the Indians retreated leaving
the troops so badly used up that they could not
follow. The third battle was Joseph's victory.
It was here that Howard joined Gibbon, and
where the humane generals of the white troops
permitted their Bannock auxiliaries to scalp the
dead Nez Perces braves. The Nez Perces took
no scalps and never mutilated the slain. Their
greatest loss in this battle wasf their afdest diplo?
mat| Looking Glas^^

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THE KEZ PBRCBS WARS.

Joseph now crossed the divide into Idaho and
camped on the Camas prairie. He was pursued
by Howard, who also encamped on the prairie.
Joseph planned a surprise, by which he ran oflF a
great number of Howard's horses. Leaving his
pursuer crippled, he passed through Tacker's
Pass into the Ydlowstone Park, down the Yel-
lowstone Lake, over the river through Clark's
Canyonand back to the Yellowstone again. This
feint was to avoid Sturgis' command of 350 caval-
ry, whothought to head Joseph off in the valley of
the Stinking Water River. ButSturgis soon found
he had been deceived, and took up the chsiseinthe
right direction. He struck the rear guard of the
Nez Perces beyond the Yellowstone, and, though
met by a severe fire, he pressed it so closely as
to capture 400 ponies. The Indians entered
Canyon Creek where they repelled attack
throughout the day. In the morning Sturgis
received a large re-inforcemcnt of Crow Indians,
who succeeded in capturing 500 more ponies from
the Ntt Perces. Joseph then retreated up the
Mussel Shell River, back of Judith Mountain, and
struck the Missouri at Cow Island, 123 miles
below Port Benton, Here they attacked the
guards and burned the goods at the landing. A
force from Port Benton came down to attack

THB KBZ PBRCBS WARS.

1C3

them, but gave up in despair after a skirmish or
two.

The Indians moved slowly northward and
encamped near the British line on Snake Creek.
The telegraph was fleeter than their ponies. Col-
onel Miles had left Fort Keogh with a large force
of infantry, cavalry and a deadly Hotchkiss.
Joseph did not know of this new force, which
struck his trail at Cow Island. He was resting
in his camp, when it was suddenly attacked and
a herd of 800 cattle cut off. Two battalions of
cavalry charged upon his camp, but were repulsed
with the loss of a fifth of their force. Miles then
disposed his forces so as to surround the Indians.
The whites had the best of the situation but dare
not attack, except at long range with shells from ^

the howitzer. For four days this situation was
maintained. The Indians could have escaped at
any time, if they had agreed to leave l>ehind their
wounded, and the women and children. But this
says Joseph, "We were unwilling to do. We
never heard of a wounded Indian getting well
while in the hands of a white man.''

Joseph had hope that Sitting Bull would come
from his camp over the British line to
his rescue.. To this end, he waited and parlied-
with General Miles for several days. At length
he concluded to surrender all that was left of hisJ p

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THB KBZ PBXLCBS WAItS.

band. OUacut, Dreamer-Drummer, Too-hul-liul-
sute, and 27 others had perished here at this last
camp. White Bird had made his escape with 105
warriors, and had crossed into Canada. Joseph
made most honorable terms. He well knew he
would have to go on to a reservation, but he got the
trippostponed till the pleasant weather of Spring,
and was not deprived of any of his cattle or
e£fects.

Of this war General Sherman says: —
''Thus terminated one of the most extraordinary
Indian wars on record. The Indians throughout
displayed a courage and skill that elicited uni«
veisal praise. They abstained from scalping, let
captive women free, did not murder peaceful fami-
lies and fought with almost scientific skill, using
rearguards, skirmish lines and field fortifica*
tions.'*

(

Chapter XVL
THE UTES OP WHITE RIVER-

IN 1878 the gold hunters of Colorado found not
gold, but silver. There was a rush of

emigrants thither, as in 1849 ^^ California.

Leadville grew at the rate of 300 persons a
day. Mining camps became thick as leaves
and small towns sprang up like magic. Onward
rolled the surge of migration till it beat
against the barriers of the Ute reservations.
Then arose the cry "the Utes must go I**
Their lands were suspected of being rich in min-
erals. They were only Indians, and therefore
in the way. Any other reservation would be good
enough for them.

In 1879 the Utes were strong in numbers, well
armed and rich in horses. The mining popula-
tion started a furore which had for its object the
expulsion of these Indians. Men organized at
many points to ward oflf imaginary attacks.
They invented excuses for warlike demonstrations
and conjured up grievances to be avenged. The
Utes 'jad never been severely hostile Their

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THB ims OP WHITB RIVBR.

country was not afiFected by any of the great
trans-continental thoroughfares. Up until 1863
the Government had never thought of making a
treaty with them. Even then it would not have
been regarded as necessary but for the fSwt that
a fragment of Utes had been persuaded by the
Navajos and Apaches to join them in marauding
expeditions. This treaty of 1863 secured to the
Utes their native lands in Western Colorado. In
1868 another treaty was made which set apart a
larger reservation for the entire Ute family, con-
sisting of seven tribes or bands. There were
several agencies on the reservation, but the prin-
cipal one was on White River. It had ever
been the desire of the Utes to have a country of
their own and in giving it to them the United
States made its dedication most solemn.

Scarcely had the Utes received their first pay-
ments under the treaty when the mines in the
San Juan Country were discovered and miners
flocked in regardless of the fact that they were
trespassers on the reservation. A conflict occur-
red, which was settled by the diplomatic old
Chief Ouray, who agreed to cede a mining strip
in the San Juan and Miguel Countries, provided
the lines of the strip did not cutoflFany part of the
Uncompahgre Park. This cession was ratified
by Congress in 1874. Ouray's fears that his

TUB UTES OP WHITB RIVER.

I«7

method of preserving peace would not be justified
by the future were speedily realized. The In-
dians were outrageously cheated in this deal.
The government did not keep its promise to pay
$25,000 annually forever for the ceded lands.
The lines of the ceded lands were so arranged as
to deprive the Utesi of some of their best farming
lands and as they ran nearly through the centre
of the Uncompahgre Park, the Indians received no
equivalent lands in any other direction.

Before the Indians could ascertain the magni-
tude of their loss or take any steps to rectify the
boundaries of their cession, their best farming
lands around the mining towns were occupied by
settlers who refused to move. In 1877 an order
was issued by the War Department to remove
the intruders by force. Secretary Schurz weak-
ened on the order, and gave the intruders six
mouths time. In the Spring of 1878 a similar
order was issued, but by this tim? the settlers
were numerous and defiant They threatened to
precipate an Indian war if they were interfered

with then.

A commission was organized to look into the
difficulty. It was found that most of the defiant
settlers could be appeased if the Government
would undertake to quiet their titles to about four
square miles of territory. The commission the».

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TAB UTBS OF WHITB RIVBR.

fore offered to buy from the Utes enough to sat-
isfy the present desires of the settiers, and at the
same time settle all troubles about the former
cessions. The Utes were stubborn and the com-
mission failed. But a delegation of Utes was
brought to Washington the next winter, and,
under the influence of the Capitol atmosphere,
they were induced to acquiesce in the wishes of
the settlers and part with their lands.

These are a few of the events which, helped to
sour the Utes against the whites. Within the
reservation were factions. Some clung to
Chief Ouray, others repudiated his authority.
The White River Utes hardly recognized him.
The agent there, for reasons best known to him-
self, changed the agency to a point fifteen miles
down the river. The White River's flew into a
rage about it, and the agent, not understanding
tjieir character, attempted to sustain himself by
playing off one Indian faction against another.
This incensed the Indians all the more. Their
umbrage became centered on the agent, whom
they accused of wishing to interfere wth their
customs and privileges and of a design to turn
a nation of hunters into ordinary plowmen.

One of their number asssaulted the agent and
would have killed him but for the interference of
his employees. The agent wrote to Governor

THB UTBS OF WHITB RIVBR.

169

Pitkin for help, and gave it out that nothing but
force would prove equal to an occasion in which,
all the Indians sympathized. In response to the
agent's request, three companies of cavalry and
one of infantry marched from Fort Fred. Steele
toward the Ute reservation. They were com-
manded by Major Thomburg, and while at the
Bear River Crossing, they were met by Chiefs
Jack, Colorow and three other Utes. They «
asked why he was coming. When told that he
had been sent for by the agent, they denied all
his reports, denied the right of the troops to enter
the reservation and asked that the Major go, with
five companions, and ascertain for himself how
matters stood. The Major said he was under
orders, and could only obey them. The Indians
then went to the agent and asked him to stop the
troops. He said it was none of his business, but
on second thought he requested the Major to
encamp outside of the reservation and come on
with an escort. But unfortunately the troops
had already entered the reservation at Red
Canyon and were beginning to pass down the
canyon. The Indians were in ambush along the
bushy edges of the ravine. When they were
discovered a parley was sought, in order that
hostilities might be averted. Chief Jack had

started from the Ute camo. with a simUar objectT^

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in view. The parle3ring parties never met, for
firing began as soon as the troops made their
appearance on the upland.

The Indians proved to be in strong force.
Captain Payne threw his company into skirmish
line on the left, and Captain Lawson on the
right. The wagon traiu was ordered to pack.
The Indians pressed the troops hotly. They
massed to cut o£f the retreat of the whites and
Major Thomburg ordered his troops to fall
bade on the wkgon train. In executing this
movement the Major was killed. Captain Payne
took command and instantly set the troops to
fortifying. Pick and shovel went to work.
Dead horses were piled up as breast-works.
Sacks of feed and bedding became bulwarks for
sharp shooters. The men worked and fought
nobly amid the groans of the wounded and dying.
The crack of the Indian rifle was heard on every
hand. The sage brush and grass took fire and
the flames crept up toward the breastworks of
the troops. There was no water and the troopers
were forced to drop their tools and weapons and
smother the fire with their blankets. Some of
their wagons took fire and were saved with 'diffi-
culty. The situation was a desperate one, but
when the smoke lifted the very element that had
proved so alarming turned out to be a source of

TH8 UT8S OP WBITB RTVBR.

protection. The burning of the sedge had
destroyed the cover of the Indians and they were
forced to seek the shelter of the bluffs which were
some 400 yards distant. While they still com-
manded the situation they could do but little
harm with their rifles at that range.

Word of the battle was sent to the agency In-
dians who kept it a .secret from the agent, in
whom they had lost all confidence. They be-
lieved the agent had deceived them as to Major
Thomburg's expedition and intentions, and so
resolved .to meet treachery with treachery. That
night they held a war dance. The agent sent a
message next morning to Major Thomburg, not
knowing he had been killed, and the carrier was
escorted by two Indians. A few miles out the
carrier was killed by his escort, Antelope and
Ebenezer, who hastened back to the agency.
Meanwhile the Indians there had broken into the
storeroom and helped themselves to agency guns
and ammunition. Twenty of them then started
out to meet Antelope and Ebenezer. When they
had met them all returned and immediately
opened fire on the agency. Several of the em-
ployees fell at the first fire, and the rest with their
families sought the cover of the respective houses.
The hattle raged at intervals throughout the day,

the Indians plundering the stores 1 during theT/>
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THB UTBS OP WHITB RIVER.

lulls. At night they fired several of the build*
ings. This drove meUi women and children from
their covers, and in the indiscriminate firing
which followed many of the women and children
were shot The rest, including the agents wife^
were taken captive. The wreck of the agency
was complete.

Chief Ouray was out on a hunting expedition
with his band while these atrocities were going
on. On hearing of them he returned at once to
Los Pinos and prepared an order to the White
River Chiefs to stop fighting. Its bearer, Joseph
Brady, bore it to the hostiles who at once agreed
to obey. Brady als6 communicated with the
soldiers, who were still holding desperately to
their position near the mouth of the Red Canyon.
They had been re-inforced by Dodge's company
of colored troops, who were doing good work in
strengthening the fortifications. Further re-in-
forcements came in under Colonel Merritt, who
took entire command. He found that the losses
thus hr footed up 13 killed and 43 wounded.
The Indians were preparing to engage Merritt
when Ouray's order reached them. There was
no more regular fighting, though several valuable
lives were lost in desultory skirmishing

Very soon Merritt marched his <^ommand to
White River Agency. * All alone his line of

SHB UXSS OP WHlTB RFVBR.

marcn v^ZXQ evidences of the fury of the Indiaiii?;^
in the shape of dead bodies, and the agency was
a scene of desolation. Every building, except
one, had been burned. No sign of life appeared
and the ground was strewn with articles of every
kind. Every here and there were the bodies of the
victims. The body of the agent was found one
hundred yards from his house with a bullet hole
through his brain, a barrel stave thrust into his
mouth and a chain around his neck. The burial
of the dead, some of whose bodies had been eaten
by wolves, occupied the time of the troops for a
day after their arrival.

The next object was to recover the captive
women. Special agent Adams was sent with an
escort of 15 Utes to the camp of the hostiles to
effect their release. The hostiles gave them a
stormy welcome. Some were in favor of surren-
dering them and keeping peace, the rest
wished to kill Adams and go on with the war.
Fortunately the wife of one of the hostiles was
a sister of Ouray, and the wife of another had been
cured of a serious illness by Mrs. Meeker, wife of
the agent at White River. These stood out for
the release of the captives. All in all, peaceful
counsels gotthe upper hand, and the captives were
released. They steted that they had been treated
with consideration K^' their capton, I^OOQIc

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TAB UTES OP WHITE RIVER.

There was now no father use for the troops on
the reservation and they were withdrawn. Sub-
sequently two commissions appointed to investi-
gate the trouble and demand the surrender of the
ring-leaders for punishment, sat through tedious
sessions. They could get no satisfaction and
arrived at no conclusion. But the upshot of the
whole aflfairwas that in 1880, thelites were given
seperate reservations, according to their bands, and
those of the White River were placed under the
jurisdictionof the Uintah Agency*

Chapter XVIL

MESSIAH CRAZE AND GHOST DANCE.

r^ VEN with Indians, a war must have a reason.

1^ We may call the recent demonstrations

^^ by the Sioux and kindred tribes, a craze,

an uprising, a war, or by what name we

please ; it is fuller of meaning for the white race

and for the Federal Government than anything

that goes to make the weird chapters of Indian

annals. And it is being studie4, too, from many

standpoints, all of which are sources of light.

For many months we read of Indian distur-
bances in the neighborhood of the Pine Ridge
reservation, a reservation devoted to the powerful
Sioux tribe, or such of it as can be induced to
stay on it. These disturbances grew more fre-
quent and pronounced. They extended more
widely, till they embraced several of the neigh-
boring tribes who are akin to the Sioux. By
and by the various reservations seemed to be
ablaze with excitement The Indians left their
reservations and began to cluster as armed bands.
There was every evidence of a great conspiracy
for 5ome bloody purpose. Settlers left their
homes and rushed to the agencies and forts fpr^

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MB88IAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

protection. States and the general Govenuuen&
pnt their troops on a war footing. It looked as
thongh there might he a gigantic and hloody In-
dian war. Bnt preparation proved to he timely,
thanks to large facilities for transportation and a
wise concentration of forces.

The Sioux represent one of the largest and
hravest tribes of the Northwest For thirteen
years, what maybe called the respectable portion
of the tribe, has lived on its reservation, has
come to own horses and cattle, and has sent
many of its children to eastern schools for an
education. It is a tribe in which missionaries
have worked with success, and have imparted a
fidr degree of moral culture and Christian
doctrine. Therefore, it is hardly to be expected
that it would plunge into war without a reason.

The real beginning of the uprising dates from^
the visit of the Sioux to the Utes in Utah. The
religion of the Utes is a graft of Christianity on
their own m3rthology, and one of its solemnities
is the superstitious dance, resembling the Sun
dance of old.

But although this dance was brought back
with the Sioux, it was, when in its infanqr»
purely of a religious character, and it was only
when the medicine men and politicians in the
xudon began to enlarge upon the wrongs suffered

MBSSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

i77

at the hands of the whites, the scarcity of food,
the presence of the military, that its general
aspect was changed from the sacred rite to a
warlike demonstration. But for these com-
plications and the lack of prompt action on
the part of prominent officials, the craze might
have been easily suppressed, and the dancers
returned to their camps on the agency creeks
without any trouble whatever.

The Indians located in the Dakotas have been
in the habit of visiting the Utes and Arrapahoes
every summer for the purpose of trading and
hunting en route. While the Sioux are unable to
converse with these tribes, means of communica-
tion is possible through the medium of the sign-
language, which is well understood by all Indians^
throughout the West Keeps the Battle (Kicizapil
Tawa) relates that it was during the visit of the
Pine Ridge Sioux, in July, 1890, that he first
heard, of the coming of the new Messiah. His
story as told by a correspondent of the " Illus-
trated AmericaUy^ which periodical we must also
:redit with other valuable facts in connection
with the Messiah craze, is as follows : —

" Scarcely had my people reached the Ute vil-
lage when we heard of a white preacher whom the
Utes held in the highest esteem, who told a beau-
tiful dream or vision of the coming of a great and[^

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MBSttlAH CRAZB AMD GHOST DANCB.

good red man. This strange person was to set
aright the wrongs of my people ; he could restore
to us our game and hunting-grouaJs^ was so pow-
erful that every wish or word he gave utterance
to became fulfilled.

His teachings had a strange effect upou the
TJtes, and| in obedience to the commands of this
mauy they began a Messiah Dance, My people
did not pay much attention to this dance at first,
and it was not until we took our departure that
the matter began to weigh heavily upon the minds
of a number in the party. As we left the Ute
• camp the minister stood with uplifted hands and
invoked the blessing of the Great Spirit upon us.
He told us to look for the coming of the Saviour,
and assured us that he would soon and unexpect-
edly arrive. He further cautioned us to be watch-
ing and ready to accompany him to the bright
and Happy Hunting Grouuds, to be sorry for our
sins, to institute a Messiah Dance among our peo-
ple at Pine Ridge, and to keep up this dance until
the Lord himself should appear.''

Immediately upon the arrival of the hunting*
party at Pine Ridge, a small dance was held in
imitation of the ones they had seen while among
the Utes, but until the medicine men began to
superintend th« ceremonies nothing unusual
occurred. The dances were held every few days

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i;KNERAL M.i.>ON A. MILLiS.

MBSSIAII CRAZE AND GHOST DANCB.

«79

until the middle of August. Then, with scarcely
any warning, a wild and general desire took pos-
session of a large part of the nation to welcome
the expected Messiah the moment he set foot
upon earth. The agent, then at the agency, fear-
ing that the enthusiasm of the Sioux might
terminate in an outbreak, visited White Bird's
camp accompanied by fourteen Indian police. As
he approached the village, twenty savage fellows
sprang out of the brush, and, drawing their Win-
chesters, called upon him to halt. They would
not permit him to advance, and compelled the
party to turn about and retrace its footsteps to
the agency, threatening death should Galagher
attempt to interfere with their dance.

The news of this bold action spread like wild-
fire through the country, and, being heralded and
exaggerated by the daily press, caused many an
uneasy and timid settler to prepare his goods for
shipment to the nearest point upon the rail-
road.

The news of the failure of the agent to stop
the Messiah Dance was carried by couriers to the
Indians at Rosebud and Standing Rock Reserva-
tions, and the more susceptible Indians became
infatuated with the new fad. Meetings and
dances were arranged at points distant from the

agency posts, in order that no employee might j />
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MESSIAH C&AZB AND GHOST DANC&

interfere. Of course, both the Sioux and thv
whites were much excited. The former were
ready and willing to throw off forever the odious
yoke of oppression ; the latter, fearful for the
safety of their homes and families. If the dances
continued to be religious and there was nothing
of a warlike nature introduced, there could be no
objection to the Sioux dancing as long and as
hard as they desired. But older residents, and
those acquainted with Indian warfare, knew well
that an outbreak was always preceded by a series
of dances. While these men were quite familiar
with Indian nature, they failed to discern between
a religious ceremony and a war dance. Hence
the very grave error followed of accusing many
friendly Indians, who had joined the dance for no
other purpose than worship, of hostile intentions.
This accusation, coupled with the arrival of some^
four or five times as many troops as were neces-
sary to subdue the small number of lodges
which later fled into the borders of the Bad
Lands, had the effect of turning the more timid
toward the agency, while the braver middle-aged .
and young men fled to the northward. J

The aged Red Cloud, a chief of the Sioux,
thus describes the beginning of the Messiah
ctaze:/^

MESSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

I8x

" We felt that we were mocked in our misery.
We had no newspapers and no one to speak for
us. We had no redress. Our rations were again
reduced. You who eat three times each day, and
' see your children well and happy around you,
can't understand what starving Indians feel. We
were faint with hunger and maddened by despair.
We held our dying children, and felt their little
bodies tremble as their souls went out and left
only a dead weight in our hands. They were not
very heavy, but we ourselves were very faint, and
the dead weighed us down. There was no hope
on earth, and God seemed to have forgotten us.
Some one had again been talking of the Son ot
God, and said He had come. The people did not
know ; they did not care. They snatched at the
hope. They screamed like crazy men to Him for
mercy. They caught at the promises they heard
He had made."

It is quite natural to suppose that the agent
was not a little frightened at his reception near
** White Bird's** camp, and, as subsequent events
would seem to indicate, he feared to assert his
authority and compel the Sioux to discontinue
their daiice. He hoped that in time the craze
would die out without interference on his part
But, insteadof ceasing, the numbers participating

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MESSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

increased, and really things began to assume a
very threateuing aspect.

The dancers were not slow to take advantage
of non-interference, and a report gained wide cir-
culation to the effect that their agent was afraid
to command the police to arrest the principals in
the dance. The medicine men and Indians of
the same stamp as the late Sitting Bull addressed
tlie young men somewhat after the following
manner : —

" Do you not see that the whites on the reserva-
tion are afraid of you ? Why do you pray to
great Wakantanka to send the Saviour on earth
and bring about a change when the remedy lies
in your own hands ? Be men, not childrei;. You
have a perfect right to dance upon your own res-
ervation as much as you please, and you should
exercise this right, even if you find it necessary
to use your guns. Be brave, and the great and
good Wakantanka will aid your arms. Be cow-
ards, and he will be ashamed of you.''

When the Ghost or Messiah Dance was first
given on Pine Ridge Reservation by the Sioux
who had been in Utah on a visit to the Ute Indi-
ans, there were many on-lookers. These became
interested as the dance proceeded, for such was its
influence upon a beholder that he felt an irresis*
tible desire to join the circle.

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MSSSIATI CRAZE AND GHOST DAKCB.

183

The largeist catxnp of the daiicers prior to the
departure for the north was located on Wounded
Knee Creek* Other camps of considerable extent
existed upon White Clay Creek, four miles from
the agency headquarters, upon Porcupine and
Medicine Root streams.

When the medicine men took the Ghost Dance
under their charge one man was appointed
" High Priest," to have entire control of the cere-
monies. His four assistants were likewise in-
vested with power to start' or stop the dance at
will. They were given authority to punish
any person who should refuse to obey their
commands.

While the priests are employed in their prayers
the squaws make a good-sized sweat-house. Poles
are stuck in the ground and the tops bent
together and securely tied. These saplings are
strong enough to bear the weight of several hun-
dred pounds. Over the framework are heaped
blankets and robes to such a thickness that no
smoke or steam can pass from the interior. A
fire is started in a hole in the ground several
feet from the small entrance to the sweat-lodge,
and twenty or thirty good-sized stones are placed
therein to be heated. When these rocks have
become sufficiently hot, the young men who are
to partake of the bath, strip, with the exceptioxlp

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HB88IAH C&AZB AND OH08T DANCB.

of the breech-clout| and crawl through the doon
They seat themselves in a circle, with their feet
toward the centre and their backs against the
sides of the lodge. The attendant shoves some
of the hot stones inside, and the young men pour
water from a hide-bucket upon the little stone
heap. Steam and vapor arise, completely filling
the enclosure. The attendant has meanwhile
covered the opening so that no air from the out-
side may penetrate. As the vapor condenses, the
attendant thrusts more stones within, and thus
the operation is continued' as long as the youths
can stand the confinement The pipe is also
smoked during the sweat When the young
men issue from their bath the perspiration is
fairly streaming from every pore. If it is not
cold weather they plunge into a pool in the creek
near by, but if it be chilly they wrap blankets
about their bodies. None of the whites and half-
breeds who have witnessed these things ever saw
a Sioux rub himself after issuing from the bath.
Several sweat-houses are erected in order to
prepare the young men for the dance. When a
good number of young men, say fifty or sixty,
have thus prepared thenfselves, the high-priest
and his assistants come forward. The high-
priest wears eagle-feathers in his hair, and a short
tldtt teaches £rom his waist nearly to his knees.

MBSSUH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

IBs

The assistants are dressed in a similar manner,
but wear no ornaments other than the eagle-
feathers. The dancers wear no ornaments what-
ever and enter the circle without their blankets,
many of them only wearing their ordinary
clothes.

That Indians should lay aside all ornaments
and finery, and dance without the trappings
which they so dearly love, proves conclusively
that some powerful religious influence is at work.
In their other dances, the Omaha, the Old
Woman, the Sun, and War Dances, feathers and
bangles, weapons, herbs or painted and plaited
grasses, porcupine quills, horses' tails and bits
of fur-skins, necklaces, bells, silver disks, etc.,
are worn in great profusion.

The candidates for " conversion" do not fast,
as has often been stated. After they have come
forth from the sweat-house they are ready to
enter the sacred circle. The high-priest runs
quickly from the village to the open space of
ground, five or six hundred yards distant, and
stationing himself near the sacred tree, begins
his chant as follows :

Hear, hear you all persons «

Come, hurry up and dance, and when you have
finished running in the circle, tell these people^
what you have seen in the spirit land..

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MESSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

I myself have been in the spirit land and have
seen many strange and beautiful things, all of
which great Wakantanka rules over and which
my eyes tell me are good and true.

As the speaker proceeds, the men and women
leave their tepees and crowd to the dance-ground.
They form two or three circles, according to the
number of persons who wish to participate, andi
grasping hands with fingers interlocked (^^ Indian
grip"), the circles begin to move around toward
the left. They rub their palms in dust or sand to
prevent slipping, for it is considered unlucky for
one to break connections.

The sacred tree is a nearly straight sapling
thirty or forty feet high, trimmed of branches to
a height of several feet To the topmost twigs -
is attached a small white flag or canvas strip,
supposed to be an emblem of pnrity, together
with some of colors. The base of the tree is
wrapped with rushes and flags to a thickness of
about five feet Between the reeds the dancers
from time to time thrust little gifts or peace-ofier-
ings* These offerings are supposed to allay the
anger of the Great Spirit, and are given in per-
fectly good faith by the poor natives. They con*
sist of small pieces of calico, bags of tobacco or
pipes. During the heat of excitement, those
vorshippers most deeply affected cut small parti*

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MESSIAH CRAZB^IO) GHOST DANCB.

187

cles of flesh from their arms, and thnist these,
also, between the rushes of the holy tree.

As the circle moves toward the left, the pnest
and his assistants cry out loudly for the dancers
to stop a moment. As they pause he .raises his
hands towards the west, and upon all the people
acting similarly, begins the following remarka*
ble prayer :

Great Spirit, look at us now. Grandfather and
Grandmother have come. All these good people
are going to see Wakantanka, but they will be
brought safely back to earth. Everything that
is good you will see there, and you can have
these things by goiug there. All things that you
hear there will be holy and true, and when you
return you can tell your friends how spiritual it
is.

As he prays, the dancers cry aloud with all the
fervor of religious fanatics. They moan and sob,
many of them exclaiming : "Great Father, I want
you to have pity upon me."

One can scarcely imagine tje terrible earnest-
ness of these people. The scene of the dance,
especially at night, is most weird and ghost-like.
The fir«s are very large, and shed a bright reflec-
tion all around. The breasts of the worshippers
heave with emotion ; they groan and cry as if

they were suffering great agony, andf as the prie^i ^

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MBSSIAH C&AZB AND GHOST DAKCB.

begs them to ask great Wakantanka to forgive
their sins, such a cry of despair and anguish )
arises as to deeply affect even the whites present, j

After prayer and weeping, and offerings have
been made to the sacred pole, the dance is started
again. The dancers go rather slowly a£ first, and
as the priests in the centre begin to shout
and leap about, the dancers partake of the en*
thusiasm. Instead of moving with a regular
step, each person jumps backward and forward,
up and down, as hard as he or she can without
relinquishing their hold upon their neighbor's
hand. One by one the dancers fall out of the ranks,
some staggering like drunken men, others wildly
rushing here and there almost bereft of reason.
Many &11 upon the earth to writhe about as if
possessed of demons, while blinded women throw
their clothes over their heads and run through
brush or against trees. The priests are Icept
busy waving eagle-feathers in the faces of the
most violent worshippers. The feather is con-
sidered sacred, and its use, together with the
mesmeric glance and motion of the priest, soon
causes the victim to fall into a trance or deep
sleep. Whether this sleep is real or feigned the
writer does not pretend to say, but sufficiently
deep is it that whites visiting the dance have
been unable to rouse the sleepers by jest or blow.

MESSIAH CHAZE AKD GHOST DAKCB. 189

Unquestionably the priests exercise an in-
fluence over the more susceptible of the dancers
akin to hypnotism. One of the young men, who
danced in the ghost circle twenty times, narrates
that the priest " Looked very hard at us. Some
of the young men and women could not with-
stand his snake-like gaze, and did whatever he
told them/*

Regarding what is seen by the converts when
in the spirit land there is much speculation.

Little Wound gives his experience thus:
"When I fell in the trance a great and grand
eagle came and carried me over a great hill,
where there was a village such as we used to have
before the whites came into the country. The
tepees were all of buffalo hides, and we made use
of the bow and arrow, there being nothing of
white man's manufacture in the beautiful land.
Nor were any whites permitted to live there.
Th? broad and fertile lands stretched in every
direction, and were most pleasing to my eyes.

I was taken into the presence of the great
Messiah, and he spoke to me these words :

" My child, I am glad to see you. Do you
want to see your children and relations who
are dead? *•

I replied : "Yes, I would like to see my rela-
tions who have been dead a lonft time.** The

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190

MESSIAH CHAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

God then caned my friends to come up to where
I was. They appeared, riding the finest horses
I ever saw, dressed in superb and most brilliant
garments, and seeming very happy. As they
approached, I recognized the playmates of my
childhood, and I ran forward to embrace them
while the tears of joy ran down my cheeks.

We all went together to another village, where
there were very large lodges of buflFalo hide, and
there held a long talk with the great Wakan tanka.
Then he had some squaws prepare us a meal of
many herbs, meats, and wild fruits and ' Vasna''
(pounded beef and choke-cherries). After we had
eaten, the Great Spirit prayed for our people
upon the earth, and then we all took a smoke
out of a fine pipe ornamented with the most
beautiful feathers and porcupine quills. Then
we left the city and looked into a great valley
where there were thousands of buffalo, deer, and
elk feeding.

After seeing the valley, we returned to tht
city, the Great Spirit speaking meanwhile. H^
told me that the earth was now dadsmd worn out;
that we needed a new dwelling-place where the
rascally whites could not disturb us. He further
instructed me to return to my people, the Sioux,
and say to them that if they would be constant
in the dance and pay no attention to the whites

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MESSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

19c

he would shortly come to their aid. If the high
priests would make for the dancers medicine
shirts and pray over them, no harm could come
to the wearer ; that the bullets of any whites that
desired to stop the Messiah Dance would fall to
the ground without doing any one harm, and the
person firing such shots would drop dead* He
said that he had prepared a hole in the ground
filled with hot water and fire for the reception of
all white men and non-believers. With these
parting words I was commanded to return to
earth/'

There are intermissions every hour in the pro-
gress of the dance, and during these pauses
several pipes are passed around. Bach smoker
blows a cloud upward toward the supposed dwell-
ing-place of the Messiah. He inhales deep
draughts of the fragrant smoke of r^d willow-
bark into his lungs, blows it out through his nose,
and then passes the pipe to. his neighbor.

The songs are sung without accompaniment 01
a drum, as is customary in the other dances. All
sing in unison, and the notes, although wild and
peculiar, being in a minor key, do not lack
melody.

Just after the dancers have been crying and
moaning about their sins the priests strike up
the 'first song, in which all join, singing witk

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ICBSSUII CIUkZB AND GHOST DAMCB.

deafening loudness. Some man or woman may
be at tliis moment at tlie tree, with his or her
arms thrown about the rusheS| sobbing as if the
heart would break ; or another may be walking
and ciying, wringing his hands, or going thrpugh
some motion to indicate the deepest sorrow for
his transgressions. So the singer cries aloud to
his mother to be present and aid him. The
appeal to the father refers, of course, to the
Messiah, and its use in this connection is sup-
posed to give emphasis to the demand for the
mother^s presence and hasten her coming.

The second song expresses in brief the good-
ness of the father. Some one of the dancers has
come to life from the trance, and has just related
his or her experience in the other world. The
Messiah, or Father, has been very near to the
subject, and the high-priest, enlarging upon the
importance of this fact, runs about the interior
of the circle Iianding several pipes around, ex*
claiming that these pipes were received direct
from the Great Spirit, and that all who smoke
them will live. The people are worked up to-
such a pitch of religious frenzy that their minds
' are now willing to receive any utterance as truth
undisputable, so they pass around the pipes,
singing the song meanwhile. The repetition of

MBSSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB. X^s

the words, "This the father said," gives more
weight to the song.

One of the visions seen oy a young woman,
when under the influence of the trance, varied
somewhat from the others. Her story runs

thus :—

** I was carried into the beautiful land as others
have been, and there I saw a small but well-made
lodge constructed entirely of rushes and reeds.
These were woven closely together and resembled
the fine basket-work that many of our squaws
make during the winter. The tepee was provi-
ded with a stone wall, which was composed of
small, flat stones laid up against the wall to the
height of three or four feet In this lodge the
great Wakautanka dwelt and would issue forth
at noon. Promptly at the time whea the sun
was above me the lodge trembled violently and
then began its descent toward the earth. It landed
near the dance-ground, and there stepped forth a
man clothed in a blanket of rabbit-hides. This
was the Messiah, and he had come to save us."

The vision of Little Horse is still more remark-
able.

" Two holy eagles transported me to the Happj
Hunting Grounds. They showed me the Great
Messiah there, and as I looked upon his fair
countenance I wept, for there were nail-prints in

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X94

MBS8IAH CHASB AND GHOST DANC&

liis hands and feet where the cruel whites had once
fastened him to a large cross. There was a small
wound in his side also, but as he kept himself
covered with a beautiful mantle of feathers this
wound only could be seen when he shifted his
blanket He insisted that we continue the
dance, and promised me that no whites should
enter his city nor partake of the good things he
had prepared for the Indians. The earth, he
said, was now worn out and it should be re-
peopled.

He had a long beard and long hair and was
the most handsome man I ever looked upon/'

The personal experience of the Weasel may
be of interest:

'* While dancing I saw no visions, but the other
Indians told me to not think of anything in
particular, but keep my eyes fastened upon the
priests, and soon I would see all that they saw.

** The first large dance held was on Wounded
Knee Creek under the guidance of Big Road. I
attended this one, but did not observe Two Strike
in the audience. We had been dancing irreg*
ularly for several weeks when a runner came into
camp greatly excited, one night, and said that
the soldiers had arrived at Pine Ridge and were
sent by the Great Father at Washington. The
priests called upon the young men at this junc*

KBS8IAH CRAZB AND OHOm BAHCV.

I9S

ture not to become angry but to continue the
dance, but have horses ready so that all could
flee were the military to charge the village. So
we mounted our ponies and rode around the hills
all night singing our two songs. Never before
in the history of the "Dakotas** (the name
by which the Sioux call themselves, meaning
" allies**) has a dance like this been known. We
did not carry our guns nor any weapon, but
trusted to the Great Spirit to destroy the soldiers."

When there is no night dance the Sioux pass
the time playing a new. and favorite game called
** stick guess.** It is very simple, for there is
nothing used save a short stick held in the
clinched hand. The Indian making a wager.
that he can signify in which hand the stick is
concealed, points to the palm beneath which .
he thinks the stick lies. If he wins, besides the
wager he receives a larger portion of,dog soup
than the others.

Speaking of the situation at Pine Ridge, at the
dawn of the Messiah craze, an able correspondent
says ; — " Had the agency employees and their
head acted in concert, and asserted the authority
given them by the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs, the whole matter could hav? been settled
without great trouble. Philanthropists, while
meaning weU, from a l^ck gf knowledge of^th^j^

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196

MB8SIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCE.

nature of an Indian treat him in such a sympa
thetic manner— -often selecting the most worths
less and lazy Indians to bestow their favors upon
— ^that he becomes puffed up with his own impor-
tance. Egotism leads to insoknce, and insolence
gets him into serious trouble with the agency
employees and Westerners in general. The
Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians are
all doing a good work, and it is not my purpose
to say much against them ; but they should work
in unison, not against each other. The Indian
cannot understand how so many beliefs could
spring from one good book, and, naturally sus-
picious, when he hears one missionary speak dis-
paragingly of the salvation afforded by a rival
church, concludes the whole set are humbugs.

When the commission visited the agency in
the summer of 1889, for the purpose of securiug
signatures to the treaty whereby the Sioux relin-
quished claim to several million acres of their
land, a number of promises were made by the
commissioners which were never kept. The gen-
tlemen, returning to Washington, engrossed wit^
the many political cares and social pleasures jf
the capital city, soon forgot the sacred promises
assured to the Sioux. Not so with the Indians
themselves. \s they sat about their tepee £res
and discussed the affairs of their nation,, they

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MBSSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB.

X97

often wondered why the increase in rations did '
not come, why the presents were so long dela3'ed.

An Indian never forgets a promise.

Can it be wondered, then, that the Sioux lost
what little remaining faith they had in the.
whites?

As they brooded over their wrongs, the scarc-
ity of rations, and the miserable treatment of
Red Cloud, the man who has taken a firm stand
in favor of the whites, the Messiah craze came.
Imagine with what joy they hailed the coming
of Him who was to save and rescue them. How
they hoped and prayed, only to be deluded and
again cast into the depths of despairl Even this
last boon and comfort was refused by their con-
querors ; for no sooner had the news of the com-
ing Saviour reached the ears of the Great Father
at Washington than he ordered his soldiers to
the frontier to suppress the worship of any Indian,
^ho should dare to pray to his God after the dic-
tates of his own conscience."

All through the summer and fall of 1890 the
ghost dances became more frequent and intensi-
fied, and the Messiah craze ran like a prairie fire
through the various tribes of the North. Tribes
of the same tongue and recognized as of one
blood, which had been hostile to one another, be-
came friends. A general desertion of their reser-

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198

MBSSIAH CRAZB AMD GHOST DAMCB.

' vations took place, followed, very naturally by
a concentration of the tribes, the general direc-
tion being towards the seats of the more power*
ful Sioux, and the effect being to make their
agen^ at Pine Ridge a centre of activities. The
movements of these excited bodies were myster-
ious. The nature of their demonstrations were
not understood. Excitement was rife in all the
white settlements and a feeling of alarm pervad-
ed all the agencies. Rumors spread in all direc-
tions, of the wildest sort. The Indians mingled
tales of their hard treatment with their religious
songs, and their religious dances assummed
more and more the form of war dances. They
appeared in them fully armed, dressed in war
paint and feathers, covered with their ghost
shirts which were believed to be impervious to
bullets. The spirit of fatalism spread and they
courted death at the hands of white men, believing
that it would be a speedy transport to a happier
sphere. While they abstained from a formal
declaration of war, from organized hostility, mur-
ders and depredations became frequent. The
running offof live stock from the neighborhood
of the agencies and settlements was a sport which
had special attractions for the young bucks
whose infatuation had gained control. The situa-
tion was decidedly volcanic, and no one knew

1 .

MBSSIAH CRAZB AND OH08T DAKCB. 199

what circumstance might precipitate bloody war

in the twinkling of an eye.

There was no course for the Government ex-
cept to be prepared for the worst, hence began
the concentration of troops This work was has-
tened Justin proportion as the power of the Indian
police weakened. The Indians grew more defiant
of orders to go back to their resen^tions. They
sullenly withdrew from the. neighborhood of the
. agencies, andbetookthemselvesto the mountain-
oL and inaccessible "bad-lands," where they
could deliberate secretly, dance at will, and be
secure against attack; or, whence they could
issue in formidable strength in case war were
determined on. The Dakotas, therefore, became
a scene of martial activity, seldom witnessed, and
the attention of the whole country was attracted
toward the Northwest. It was a winter scene,
too, and that made it all the more interesting.

The first snows of winter fell on the tents of one
cavalry and two infantry regiments encamped
at Pine Ridge; one cavalry and ^e wintry tegi-
ment at the moutii of the Belle Fouche in S. W.
Dakota ; one infantry regiment at Fort Pieire and
one at Fort Yates, while one <»>n»lry and two m-
fantry regiments were placed m camp at Fwrt
S.^^«*^o^«*>^y bloody fight., and the

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990 MBSSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANC^

spot where General Miles forced the surrender of
the fiery Cheyennes in 1877.

It was fortunate that these forces, and those
which were to co-operate with them, were under
the command of an officer like General Miles, a
bom Indian fighter, a thorough student 'of Indian
character, and a man in whom the humanities
have a large place. When his policy developed
it was seen to take the shape of a firm presenta-
tion of force, without seeming to use force. The
moral effect of well armed and disciplined num-
bers would win the most decisive victory, because
bloodless, if only those untimely provocations
which start an avalanche or explode a powder mill
could be avoided for a sufficient length of time.

The position of the troops was in the nature of
a cordon, which could be relaxed or tightened, as
circumstances required. Thus the whole scene
of activity was, under the winter snows, pictur-
csque. The Sibley tents of the white troopers,
contrasted in neatness and comfort with the tepees
of the Indians, after which they were patterned
Amid the uncertainties of the hour and the dan-
gers which constantly threatened, camp-life could
not grow monotonous, nor could the severest dis-
cipline be relaxed for a moment The American
soldier was called upon to do duty in a tempera-
ture far below zero. As long as roads could be

MESSIAH CRAZE AND GHOST DANCE.

301

kept open, the supplies could be had in abun.
dance, through the agency of the government
mule teams. It was only when called to go on a
distant scout, or in search of a band of renegade
Indians, amid one ofthose peculiar sand blizzards
of the region, that the enemy could be certain of
any advantage. In all else the Indian was at a
decided disadvantage. His tepees were not so
warm as the Sibley's. His food supplies were
more precarious. His discipline was his infatua-
tion, the coherence of complaint united with
frenzy.

The tract of country surrounded by the troops
and occupied by the disaffected Indians, was em-
braced within boundaries made by the Cannon
Ball, Missouri and Niobrarra Rivers, and by a
line drawn northward through Forts Robinson
and Meade to the Cannon Ball. There was no
outlet to the East. To the South all was thickly
peopled. To the West there was nothing but
starvation. To the North was the North Pacific
Railroad which could be lined in a few hours
with troops for defence. The problem the^
Indians were gradually made to fa^e was, there-
fore, extermination if they should grow so infat-
uated as to attack, or final acquiescence as time
gave opportunity for them to cool of As yet,^
but little had occurred to resolve the uncertainties

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MBSSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCE.

of the siiuatioiL The camps are flooded with
rumors from the respective Indian headquarters,
and every demonstration of theirs, no matter
what its intent, is heralded as the beginning of
atrocities. The whole country is kept in alarm
by the wildest stories of expected disaster.
Only by the slowest degrees does General
^ Miles become acquainted with the real situation.
He employs his Indian police as scouts and mes*
sengers, makes them bearers of information
between the camps, uses them to overcome pre-
judices and to ascertain intentions, and if force
become necessary they appear rather as police-
men for arrest, than as soldiers for slaughter.
And as the General learned of the true inward-
ness of the situation, he found that notwithstand-
ing the apparent wisdom of his movements and
the humanity of his aims, they were, in part,
contributing to the discontent of the Indians,
for as a casual visitor at Pine Tree might well
have asked," why are these two thousand soldiers
here, when only four hundred lodges of Sioux
andCheyennes are in sight?** So the Indians
asked '*why are these soldiers here? We sre
not for war." The fleeing of the Sioux to the
edge of the bad lands was not that they might
prepare for war, but that they might worship their
Good Spirit, Wakantanka done and prepare for

MBSSIAH CRAZQ AND GHOST DANCB.

803

the coming of their Messiah, unmolested by the
whites. Even friendly Indians were known to J
express the sentiment that, under the circum-
stances, the presence of so many white troops
was an insult, and an encouragement of the
suspicion that the true meaning was to rob the .
Indians of the miserable remnants of land that
had been left them. Little Wound, when com- j
pelled by hunger to go to the house of a herder
for food, thus expressed himself, " My friend I
have asked the Great Father for food for I am
hungry, and he has given me none. I am too
old to join my brothers^ in the North, so I must
remain with the squaws at the agency and live on
what you see fit to give me."

When nursing a grievance the Indian is sullen
and reticent. When suspicious, he is the most
difficult being on earth to interview. Hence he
contributed but little directly to an understand-
ing of tribal intentions, though much indirectly
as his laments crept more fully into his songs^
and his grievances tinged his harrangues. He
would almost refuse to chargethat the beef ration
due the reservation had been diminished a million
pounds a year, even though the population on the
reserve had increased, yet this startling fact
would creep out in his songs and murmur?*, and
would be talked over around the council fires^

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SQ4 MBSSIAH CRAZE AND GHOST DANCB.

Nor would lie openly charge tliat the beef cattle
issued to them in the winter were smaller or
thinner than those in summer, but the shameful
fact was no less a source of profound discontent.
Again, only by persistent inquiring based on ac-
tual visits to the- lodges, by Indians of friendly
disposition, could it be fully ascertained how deep
the indignation was ' in the bosoms of all the
tribes against the whites, for the unjust assump-
tion that their fervor as exhibited in the Ghost
dance, and their faith as manifested in the Mes-
siah expectation, were not real, but a possible
doak for dissatisfaction and a prelude to war.

It is, of course, easy to deny everything from
the Indian's standpoint ; just as easy as for so-
ciety to turn up its nose at the overwrought pic-
tures of Dickens. Yet no one can read Dickens
without a good deal more than a half consent
Yellow Hair's story may be discounted by as
much as you please of white sentiment, but you
cannot obliterate its effect entirely, nor deny it a
place among the touching episodes of aborigi-
nal life. He said, ^Xittle Wound's daughter had
been sick in the lodge for several days. She
had no food , nor had any of her friends. She
beip^ed for meat, or broth, or bread. Little
Wound could not withstand the heart-rending
appeals of his dying daughter. He started for

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MESSIAH CRAZB AND GHOST DANCB. MS

tbe agency to beg food from the agent ; when a
few rods away his squaw came running out of
the lodge crying, " toiyanka 1 toiyanka I come
back I come back 1" He returned with fear and
trembling — ^his poor child was dead. As she
died she said, "Oh, give me food, just a little
food 1" Falling back on the couch she died, then
Little Wound drew himself up to his full
stature and said "I would fight if my young men
were bold and avenge the death of my child I"

The first reliable information regarding the
location of the camps of the hostiles was brought
into headquarters about the middle of December,
1890. The heroic messenger was a Louis Shan*
graux, of French and Indian descent, who had
gone forth into the unknown at the head of
thirty-two Indian companions, for the purpose of
finding out something definite about the location
and intentions of the ghost dancing tribes.

Louis' party had been selected for its mission
because the regular government scouts had failed'
to reach the camp site of two of the most important
chiefs. Short Bull and Kicking Bear, and because
their reports were considered generally unreliable.
He had been left to his choice of men, and had
chosen thirty-two good and reliable friendly In-
dians, whom he could depend on in case of
trouble. No wb*te men went with them, for it

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UBSSIAH CRAZB AND OHOST DANCB.

was beKevcd the hostiles would kill any one not
an Indian who should venture near the camp.
From subsequent events this was found to be
true.

The country through which they rode present-
ed a similiar appearance to a volcanic region.
Great fissures yawned on all sides, peaks of gray-
colored earth, or a dirty whitish, limestone bluff
towered here and a precipice extended there.
The trees become stunted as one advanced, and
the grass disappeared. Finally all vegetation
vanished and there remained naught but a series
of peaks, of deep valleys, of horrible pits sugges-
tive of the road to the infernal regions I Truly
a more fitting place for an Indian massacre could
not have been found in the United States.
Occasional broader valleys, afforded a stunted
growth of grass for ponies, but these fertile spots
were great distances apart and of limited extent.
In prehistoric times eruptions of the submerged
volcanoes, or shrinkages in the earth's crust
caused the irregularities, which everjrwhere ex-
isted. Louis says "that the country affords
splendid places for ambuscades — ^little amphi-
theatres, as it were, with but one entrance, the
sides of which are so irregular as to form good
Idding-places for lurking savages. The hostiles'

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HIBSSIAH CRAZB AMD OHOST DANCB.

fort cannot be approached except through about
five miles of such land.

While in the hostile camp, Louis became an
eye witness of the ghost dance.

The dancing continued for nearly thirty hours ;
then there was an intermission of several hours,
during which a council was held in order to give
audience to the peace commission. Short Hull and
Two Strike, aided by Crow Dog, took the side of
the hostiles, while No Neck and Louis Shangraux
spoke in behalf of the friendlies. Louis said
that, " the agent would forgive you if you would
return now, and would give you more rations but
not permit you to dance.'' To this Short Bull
(Tatankaptecelan) replied: —

^^ I have risen to-day to tell you something of
importance. You have heard the words of the
brothers from the agency camps, and if you have
done as myself you have weighed them carefully.
If the Great Father would permit us to continue
the dance, would give more rations, and quit taking
away portions of the reservation, I would be in
favor of returning. But even if you (turning to
Louis) say that he will, how can we discern
whether you are telling the truth ? We have been
lied to so many times that we will not believe any
words that your agent sends to us. If we return
he will take away our guns and ponies, put some

V-^

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ICBSSIAH CRAZS AND GHOST DANCE.

MBSSIAH CRAZH AND GHOSi' u^HC!^

109

of US in jail for stealing cattle and plundering
liouses. We prefer to stay here and die, if neces-
saiy, to loss of liberty. We are free now and
liave plenty of beef, can dance all the time in
obedience to the command of Great Wakantanka.
We tell you to return to your agent and say to
him that the Dakotas in the Bad Lands are not
going to come in."

The gathering broke up, and nearly every one
continued in the ghost dance. For two days the
hostiles would not have further words with the
friendly scouts. — .

About noon, Saturday, Two Strike — who had J
been one of the leaders in the dance— *arose and •
announced his intention to return to the agency
with the scouts, accompanied by about one hun-
dred and forty-five lodges. Crow Dog (Kangi
Sunka, the Indian who kilUed Spotted Tail about
ten years ago) also announced his intention of re-
turning. At this declaration from two such prom*
inent men. Short Bull sprang to his feet and cried
out angrily :

** At such a time as this we should all stick to-
gether like brothers. Do not leave ; remain with
us. These men from the agency are not telling
OS the truth ; they will, conduct you back to the
;;gency and they will place you in jail there.

■0

iliouis is at the bottom of this affair. / Anaw lie
is a traitor ; killhim^ kill him I

With clubbed guns many of the desperate
youths rushed upon the friendlies and scouts,
others cocked their Winchesters, and for a few
moments it looked as if poor liouis and No Neck,
Two Strike and Crow Dog, would lose their lives.
Crow Dog sat upon the ground and drew his
blanket over his head.

The wiser heads prevailed, however, and after
a great hub-bub« in which several young men
were knocked down, order was restored. It was
during this trouble that Crow Dog made his
famous short speech :

^^ I am going back to White Clay (the location
of the agency) ; you can kill me if you want to,
now, and prevent my starting. The agent^s Wbrds
are true,' and it is better to return than to stay
here. I am not afraid to die.^'

Imagine the surprise of the friendlies when,
upon looking back from the top of a ridge two
miles distant, they saw the one hundred and
seventeen lodges of hostiles coming after them.
They halted to wait for Short Bull to catch up, .
and then the entire outfit moved toward the
agency, all happy in the prospect of peace and
forgiveness.

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MESSIAH CRASS AND OHOST DANCB.

But the hopes of the friendlies were short-lived,
for Short Bull became scared after having pro-
ceeded four miles farther, aud, together with his
band, left the rear of the column and returned to
the Bad Lands.

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DEATH OF SITTING BULL.

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*

^^-'

Chapter XVIIL
MASTERING THE SITUATION..

THE events of moment, in connection with the ,
use of the military for the suppression of
this unique Indian uprising of 1890, occur*
red in the following historic order :
By November 14th, 1890, the disquietude
among the Sioux Indians, resulting from Sitting
Bull's prophecy that a new Messiah was soon to
appear to restore to the Indians the land taken
from them by the palefaces and to bring back the
bufifalo, had assumed such proportions that the
Interior Department at that date transferred the
control of the Indians of North Dakota, under
orders of the President, to the War Department,
and General Miles was placed in control. Troops
were sent forward rapidly, and it was expected
that within a short time there would be 3,000
regulars massed in North Dakota. Sitting Bull
would be able to bring 3,000 warriors into action
in case of trouble, and it was the intention of the
War Department to overawe the Indians before!^
thev cotdd have a chance of doing anythingi |^ ^^

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If ASTBRINO THB SITUATION.

bringing against them an eqnal force of United
States soldiers.

Several years before, there were similiar indica-
tions of trouble with the Sioux, and a like course
was followed at that time, with such success that
the Indians abandoned their proposed attack on
the whites, and it was thought that the same re-
sult would follow at this time. An actual out-
break was not anticipated by either the officials
of the Interior or the War Department, but the
situation was sufficiently critical to warrant
prompt and extraordinary measures of precaution.
General Miles had had great success in dealing
with the Indians and it was believed that he
would soon convince them ot the error of Sitting
Buirs prediction.

On Nov. 17th 1890, General Miles received
official advices from Fort Custer, Montana, in the
shape ofa report from the Post Adjutant, Lieut. F.
C. Robertson, upon the religious craze as it affect-
ed the Cheyennes. Lieut. Robertson says, "On
my arrival at the agency, I put myself in imme*
diate communication with Porcupine, the Apostle
of the new religion among the Cheyennes and
with Big Beaver, who accompanied him on his
visit to the new Christ, at Walker Lake, Nevada,
last year. When questioned as to the identity of
the 15 or 16 tribes who were at the Walker Lake

MASTERING THB SITUATIOK.

tX3

meeting last year, he said they included Chey*
ennes, Sioux, Arraphoes, Gros Ventres, Utes, Nav-
ajoes. Sheep Eater Bannocks and some other
tribes whose names he did not know. He says
all of the Utah Indians had been there and had
left before his arrival.

He is sure there were no tribes from Indian
Territory represented, and thinks the Sioux were
the most eastern Indians present. He says that
he first heard of this new Christ at Arrapahoe
(Shoshone Agency), Wyoming, where he and
12 other Cheyennes went on a visit last fall. An
Arrapahoe Indian named Sage, who had been to
the Southwestern country in 1889, told them that
there was a new Christ arisen for the Indians ;
told where he could be found and explained his
doctrine to them. Porcupine goes on to say that
he and the other Cheyennes were much interes-
ted, and determined to see this Messiah, but, as
all could not go so far, nine of the Cheyennes
were sent back.

Porcupine'and the Cheyennes went on. When
they got to Tongue River they crossed to their
caravans, Indians joining them in groups at
different points ^n route^ so that, when the final
meeting took place at Walker Lake to hear the
Christ speak, there were several hundred Indians
present, including women and children. He cd-j

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MASTBRING THE SITUATION.

pecially insists that the teachings of th^ new
Christ were in the interest of peace and good
order and industry on the part of the Indians."

Appended to this report is the testimony of the
Cheyenne Porcupine, in which he describes his
journey among the various Indian tribes, seem*
ingly for pleasure and informatioui and his
arrival at length among a fish-eating tribe, sup-
posed to be dwellers on Pyramid Lake, Nevada.
That part of his testimony which bears directly
upon the uprising is as follows :

^^ What I am going to say is the truth. The
two men sitting near me were with me, and will
bear witness that I speak the truth.

I and my people have been living in ignorance
until I went and found out the truth. All the
whites and Indians are brothers, I was told there.
I never knew this before.

The fish-eaters, near Pyramid Lake, told me
that Christ had appeared on earth again. They
said Christ knew he was coming; that ii of his
children were also coming from a far land. It
appeared that Christ had sent for me to go there,
and that was why, unconsciously, I took my
journey It had been foreordained. They told
me when I got there that my Great Father was
there also, but I did not know who he was. The
people assembled, called a council, and the chiefs

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MAJOR-GENERAL SCIIOnELD, U. S. A

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MASTBRIKG THB SITUATION.

315

sons went to see the Great Father, who sent word
to us to remain 14 days in that campi and that
then he would come and see us. At the end of
two days, on the third momingi hundreds of peo«
pie gathered at this place. They cleared a place
near the agency in the form of a circus ring,
and we all gathered there. Just before sundown
I saw a great many people (mostly Indians)
coming dressed in white men's clothing ; the
Christ was with them. They all formed in this
ring, and around it they put up sheets all around
the circle, as they had no tents. Just after
dark some of the Indians told me that Christ
(Father) was arrived. I looked around to find
him, and finally saw him sitting on one side of the
ring. He was dressed in a white coat with stripes.
The rest of his dress was a white man's, except
that he had on a pair of moccasins. Then he com.
menced our dance, everybody joining in, the
Christ singing while we danced. We danced till
late in the night, when he told us we had danced
enough. The next morning he told us he was
going away that day, but would be back the next .
morning and talk to us. I heard that Chn:;t
had been crucified and I looked to see, and I saw
a scar on his wrist and one on his face, and he
seemed to be the man. I could not see his feet
He would talk to us all day That evening W(

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MA8TBUNG THB SITUATION.

all assembled to see him depart When we
were assembled he began to sing, and he com-
menced to tremble all over violently for a while
and then sat down. We danced all that night,
the Christ lying down beside ns, apparently dead.

The following morning the Christ was back
with ns and wanted to talk to ns. He said:
*Iam the man who made everything yon see
aronnd yon. I am not lying to yon my children.
I made this earth and everything on it I have
been to Heaven and seen yonr dead friends and
have seen my own father and mother.* He spoke
to ns about fighting, and said that it was bad ; that
we mnst keep from it ; the earth was to be all good
hereafter; that we must be friends with one
another. He said if any man disobeyed what he
ordered, his tribe would be wiped from the face of
the earth.

Ever since the Christ I speak of talked to me
I have thought what he said was good. I have
seen nothing bad in it. When I got back I knew
my people were bad and had heard nothing of alJ
I this, so I got them together and told them of it
and warned them to listen to it fortheir own good.
1 told them just what I have told you here to-day ** — ^

By November, 1890, reports began to come f
from various parts of Dakota, which indicated a
scareamong the whitii Mttlers in various places!

MASTBRING THB SITUATIOK.

a«7

Those from Mandan were of the most excitable
nature. Squads of Indians were making raids,
burning buildings and looting cattle, the settlers
were fleeing in terror and seeking safety at the
nearest towns and ports. General Ruger took
but little stock in these reports, he regarded them
as gross exaggerations, and did not hesitate to
say so publicly. " Some of these reports " said he,
"are particularly exaggerated, especially those
relating to an attack on Mandan.

The Indians located nearest to Mandan are
about 35 miles away, on the Cannon Ball Riven
They are thrifty, industrious, peaceable people,
who have taken up claims, built huts and houses,
own cattle, ponies and wagons, and are in good
circumstances.

They are Christianized Indians, having no
faith in aboriginal superstitions and disliking
this new Messiah craze, for they say it interferes
with the progress of the people. And every year
these Indians sell hundreds of thousands of
pounds of beef to the Standing Rock Agency,
receiving not only a good price therefor, but also
nome of the beef in return as rations.

Now, you can't convince me that the people
who have land, homes, stock, cattle, wagons,
crops and revenue are at all anxious to go to
war, and yet these are the ones to watch whom

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MASTBSJKG THB SITUATION.

the people at Mandan have sent scouts. During
my inquiries I found that there was nothing hav*
iug the appearance of war or indicative of war in
this Messianic belief. The Indians say that the
whites are to be destroyed, but by Christ alone
and without aid from the red man. A mud wave
is to engulf the pale faces^ but the Indians are to'^
be lifted above it until it passes over. This
ghost dance, too, is a harmless aSair, being equiv-
alent to Christian communion — that is, a pre-
paratory ceremony through which the partici*
pants aim to perfect themselves before the coming
of the Master.**

Notwithstanding the contradictory character
of the rumors that were Aying thick and fast,
General Miles was busy shifting the troops at
his disposal, so as to bring them into the most
available positions. The troops at Port Russell,
Wyoming, were placed under orders to move at
a moment's notice. The troops at Ports Omaha,
Robinson and Niobrarra, were ordered to hold the
Indians in check at Pine Ridge and Rosebud
agencies, on the Dakota frontier. These orders
placed a,ooo troops, well in hand, in less than a
week.

On November 19, 1890, General Miles reported
thesituation, thus: 'In my opinion the forces
now at hand, and those on the Rosebud and

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HASTBIONG THB SITUATION.

ax9

Pine Ridge agencies will be sufficient to protect
the lives and public prbperty at these agencies,
and control the Indians there, if they do not com*
mit any serious overt acts before the arrival of
the troops, or immediately upon the arrival of
this force. I am of the opinion that the presence
of the troops will have a most quieting effect. I
have received information that night before last
^American Horse,* who is one of the Sioux tribe,
had a narrow escape from assassination from the
turbulent Indians at the Pine Ridge agency/
This Indian is a prominent Sioux chief, and a
friend to the United States Government He has
been so regarded for years, and always inclined
to be peaceable and loyal.

To nothing but the turbulent, hostile and
disaffected spirit of the Indians can I attribute
this attempt to murder American Horse. They
are seemingly angry because American Horse
opposes the turbulent spirit manifested by the
Indians and strenuously opposes such actions.'*

A youth of the Arickaree tribe, who had been
educated in one of the Eastern schools, but who
was fast relapsing into the ways of his fathers,
said that, ^^ the Sioux are in good shape for a fight.
They have plenty of guns and ammunition, and
also have all the jerked beef they want The Ar-
ickarees are friendly with the wl^tes, and we don*l

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^^ MAStBMNO THB SITUATION.

want to fight ourselves, but we would like to see the
Sioux go on the war path, because it would mean
larger rations for all the Indians in the Dakotas.
I don*t know whether the Sioux set the recent
fires that destroyed so much property, but I be-
lieve they did. The Sioux say they have the
white man*s meat to eat while fighting white
men. The Sioux expect the Messiah every day.
There are 300 young bucks missing from the
reservation. Scouts and Indian police don't know
where they are. We are friends of the whites
and not of the Sioux, but the Sioux gave us forty
ponies, so we will be their friends whatever hap-
pens.**

On November 20, reports from all sources were
wilder than ever. The town of Valentine, Ne-
braska, was said to be full of fugitives from the
country north of the railroad and about the Pine
Ridge Agency. The country was thoroughly
aroused and all who could get away were fleeing
to places of safety. News that the troops had
been put on the march was exciting the Indians,
and hundreds of braves were withdrawing from
the agencies and disappearing in the Bad Lands,
which procedure was regarded as ominous.

Advices from Pine Ridge under date of No-
vember ai, were to this eflfect :

MASTERING THE SITUATION.

9ax

V The dancing Indians have the agency and the

surrounding country in a state of terror. The
Ghost dances, under the lead of Little Wound,
Six Feathers and other chiefs, are still going oil
at Wounded Knee creek. White Clay and Medi-
cine, and the Indians have their guns strapped to
their backs as they dance. Yesterday a large
band of Indians left Rosebud Agency and headed
this way. It is within the bounds of possibility
that the dancing Indians may consolidate their
forces at Wounded Knee, and in that case a fight
may be expected at any moment. Medicine
Root, the furthest point from the agency where
the dancing is going on, is 30 miles away.
Wounded Knee is 15 and Porcupine 25.

The wives and children of all the traders and
other whites about the agency have left for the
safer points along the railroad, and the men here
are prepared for the worst.

The last news from Wounded Knee, was to the
effect that "the Ghost dances were being held
nightly and that all thelndians collected there were
excited, threatening and boisterous. The rumor
that the troops were coming was repeated there
and only elicited threats in response. The Indians
declared their Messiah was advising them and en;*
couraging them every day and that the dances

could not be stopped.

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•If ASTBHINO THB SITUATION.

" If the soldiers come here," they said, " we
will treat them the way we did the agent and his
policemen."

General Miles reported oflScially as follows : Re-
liable information has been received that the Yank*
tons and Grosventres, on the Upper Missouri,
also those near old Fort Belknap, have unani*
monsly adopted the Messiah craze; the latter
quite ugly ; that Sitting Bull has sent emissaries
to these tribes and to the 48 lodges of Sioux north
of the British line, exciting them to get arms and
ammunition and join the other warriors near
Black Hills in the spring. Every effort is being
made to allay and restrain the turbulent, but the
\aolent overt act of any small party of the desper-
ate ones may cause a general uprising. The lat-
est reports from the Northern Cheyennes is that
they have abandoned the delusion. There should
be no delay, however, in putting other troops than
those in these two departments in proper equip-
ment for the field. Short Bull had risen to the
position of prophet or Messiah among the Indians
near the Rosebud agency. He grew eloquent at
Camp Leaf and thus unburdened himself:

•* My friends and relatives : I will soon start the
thing in running order, I have told you that this
would come to pass in two seasons, but since the
whites are interfering so much I wi^ advance

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MASTBRINO THB SITUATION.

323

the time from what my Father above told me.
The time will be shorter, therefore you must not
be afraid of anything. Some of my relatives have
no ears so I will have them blown away. Now
there will be a true tree sprout up, and then all
the members of your religion and the tribe must
gather together. That will be the place where
we will see our relatives. But before this time
we will have the balance of the moon, at the end
of which time the earth will shiver very hard.
Whenever this thing occurs I \vill start the wind
to blow. We are the ones who will then see our
fathers, mothers and everybody. We are the
tribe of Indians and the ones who are living the
sacred life. God, our Father, Himself has told
and commanded and shown me to do these things.
Our Father in heaven has placed a mark at each
point of the four winds. First, a clay pipe, which
lies at the setting of the sun and represents the
Sioux tribe ; second, there is a holy arrow lying
at the north, which represents the Cheyenne
tribe ; third, at the rising of the sun there lies
hail, representing the Arrapahoe tribe; and
fourth, there lies a pipe and nice feather at the
south, which represents the Crow tribe. My
Father has shown me these things, therefore we
must continue the dance. There may be soldiers
to surround you, but pay no attention to them«T

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MASTSUNG THB SITUATION.

Continue the dance. If the soldiers surround
you four deep, those upon whom I put holy spirits
will sing a song which I have taught you, and
some of them will drop dead. Then the rest will
start to run, but their horses will sink into the
earth. The riders will jump from their horses,
but they will sink into the earth and you can do
what you desire for them.

Now, you must know this — that all the soldiers
and the race will be dead. There will be only
500 of them left living on the earth. My friends
and relatives, this is straight and true. Now,
we must gather at Pass Creek when the tree if
sprouting. Then we will go among our dead rela-
tives. You must not take any earthly things
with you. Their women and men must disrobe
themselves.

My Father above has told us to do this and we
must do as he s^ys. You must not be afraid of
anything. The guns are the only things that we
are afraid of, but they belong to our Father in
Heaven. He will see that they do not harm.
Whatever white men may tell you do not listen
to them ; my relations, this is .all. I will now
raise my hand up to my Father and close what
He has said to you through me.''

The dispatches of November 24, were to the fol-
lowing effect : Apparently General Miles believes

MASTERING THE SITUATION.

J»5

that if the Indians do go on the war path the cam-
paign against them will be a protracted one, for
he is moving field artillery, large quantities of
ammunition and supplies, as well as cavalry and
infantry. Notwithstanding sensational telegrams
the army will not take the offensive, but is under
orders not to attack the braves until they do some-
thing more warlike than dancing. Instructions
are to prevent trouble, if possible, by persuading
the Indians o return to the agency.

The Messiah craze continued to spread, and by
this time it had reached the Cheyennes and Ar-
raphoes as far south as the Indian Territory. A
friendly, sent to investigate the situation among
the Southern tribes reported that :

" A Sioux Indian, acting as a missionary, has
o^me from the North to teach the new religion to
the Southern tribes. He preaches to them that
any one who does not believe in the new religion
will be destroyed, and in this manner he so works
upon the imagination of these people that they
fall prostrate to the ground, and while lying there
the missionary pretends to cast some spell on
them, and when they rise they declare they have
seen the new Christ and at once join in the ghost
dance, which they keep up until exhausted. This
new religion has also spread to the Kiowas,
Comanches and Apaches, whose/ reservatipnf^

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MASTBRING TH8 SITUATION.

adjoins the Cheyennes and Arrapalioes on the
sonthy and different tribes all join in holding the
ghost dance, and are rapidly becoming more rest*
less and desperate as the time for the coming of
the new Messiah, who is to lead them to victory,
draws near/*

The dispatches of November 26, report that
the Sionx lodges in the neighborhood of Pine
Ridge indicated the presence of about 6,000
Indians, but the bucks were mostly away. The
weather was the mildest known for y ears and was
£Eivorable for military operations. The Govern-
ment had taken into its employ about 1,200 Indian
scouts. These were friendlies and were proving
to be a very effective force for police purposes.
The celebrated Buffalo Bill was given a commis-
sion as Brigadier-General and ordered on a scout
into the Northwest. Short BulPs camp on
White River, at the mouth of Pass Creek, had
assumed immense proportions, and its occupants
were supposed to number 1,500 warriors, all well
armed. They were a surly set, and Gen. Miles
saw more difficulty in an attempt to bring him in,
than in any other which then confronted him.
Little Wound came freely into the agency, and
this was regarded as a sure sign that the strength
of the disaffM^t^ Indians would gradually
diminish.

MASTBRINO THB 8ITUATI0W. .a?

During the month of November the excitement
among the white settlers in the vicinity of the
upnsing continued, and tales of burning, plunder
and murder, came into the respective headquar-
ters with great frequency. Many of them proved
to besheerinventions, while others were provoked
by indiscreet conduct on the part of those who
had been taught to HU an Indian and parley
with him afterwards. Nevertheless, there were
many real outrages, perpetrated by foolhardy
bucks, who had detached themselves from the
main force for a purpose of gratifying a propen-
sity for deviltry.

General Miles was fast operating his Indian
police force. They were sent out to various
Indian camps where the ghost dance was pro-
gressmg, with orders to arrest the ringleaders
and deposit them in jail at the agencies. He
also continued to dispose of his forces so as to
draw his chain closer around the centres of
disturbance.

The dispatches of November, 30, showed' a
concentration of the hostiles in the vicinity of
Wounded Knee. They were supposed to number
1,300 ghost dancing warriors, frenzied with ex-
citement and ready for any deed. ThemiUtary
were held under orders to move at a moment's
notice, and it was well understood th^it Wftuj

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,,$ MASTBJLINO THB SirOAXIOIl.

Knee was to be their destination, where one of
the bloodiest fights in Indian history was antici-
pated. The alarm was increased by the report
of Plenty Bear— an old friendly— who had come
in from Wonnded Knee, His estimate of the
hostiles was a,ooo warriors, all in a sute of excite-
ment at the efforts of the troops to stop their
ghost dances. He said they had token an oath
of resistance if it cost the last drop of their heart's
blood. He witnessed one of their dances and saw .
Little Wound and his band engaged in it, though
that chief had promised to stop further indulgence
in such demonstrations.

By December xst, the Government began to
change its Indian agents, some of those in
position having proved incompetent. Both Gen-
eral MUes and Buffalo Bill had arrived at the con-
dusion that as Sitting Bull was a leading and
perverse spirit, his arrest would tend to bring the
agiUtion to an end. The situation was not nearly
so encouraging at this date, and even General
Miles despaired of securing terms of the hostiles
without a battle. More troops were called for, and
the effort to concentrate them so as to be provided
fortheworstwasgreaterthanever. Thelanguage
of General Miles at this date is as follows :

« The dissatisfaction is more widespread than
it has been at any time for years. The conspiracy

ICASTBRINO TBB SITaATlOK.

fl39

extends to more different tribes that Have Hereto-
fore been Hostile but tHat are now in full sympathy
witH eacH other, and are scattered over a larger
area of country than in the whole History of
Indian warfare.

It is a more comprehensive plot than anything
fever inspired by the Prophet Tecumseh, or even
Pontaic.

The causes of this difficulty are easy of loca-
tion. Insufficient food supplies, religious delu-
sions and the innate disposition of the savage to
go to war must be held responsible.

All that is possible is being done to encourage
the loyal and reduce the number and influence of
the Hostile, and in this way an outbreak may be
averted. I sincerely hope there will be no Hostil-
ities, for a general uprising would be a most seri-
ous affidr.

Altogether there are in the Northwest about
30,000 who are affected by the Messiah craze ;
that means fully 6,000 fighting men. Of this
number, at least one-third would not go on the
warpath, so that leaves us with about 4,000
adversaries. There are 6,000 other Indians in
the Indian Territory who will need to be watched
if active operations take place. Four thousand
Indians can make an immense amount of trouble.
But a tithe of that number were concerned iO/tHp/>

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SJO

HASTBRINO THB SlTUAtTOK*

Minnesota massacrci yet they killed 500 settlers
in a veiy brief space of time*

Altogether, we have about a,0(» mounted men.
We have plenty of infantry, but you cannot catch
mounted Indians with foot soldiers. The infan-
try had one or two good fights in 1876 and 1877,
but such engagements are rare in frontier war-
fiu-e.

The Indians are better armed now than they
ever were and their supply of horses is all that
could be desired. Every buck has a Winchester
rifle, and he knows how to use it. In the matter
of subsistence they are taking but little risk.
They can live on cattle just as well as they used
to on buffalo, and the numerous horse ranches
will furnish them with fresh stock, when cold
and starvation ruin their mounts. The Northern
Indian is hardy and can suffer a great deal.
These hostiles have been starved into fighting,"^
and they will prefer to die fighting rather than
starve peaceably. - /

I hope the problem may be solved without
bloodshed, but such a happy ending to the trouble
seems impossible. An outbreak would cost the
lives of a great many brave men, and the destruc-
tion o* hundreds of homes in the Northwest If
peace is possible we will have it"

MASTERING THB SITUATION.

«3i

By this time it had become apparent to Gen.
Miles that scarcity of food was not an idle com-
plaint on the part of the Indians. He says :

"We have overwhelming evidence from offi-
cers, inspectors and testimony of agents as well,
. and also from the Indians themselves, that they
have been suffering for the want of food, more or
less, for two years past, and one of the principal
causes of disaffection is this very matter. One of
the principal objects of my recent visit to Wash-
ington was to urge the necessity of immediate
relief, and I am happy to say that success has
crowned my efforts.

The Secretary of the Interior has ordered an
increase of rations and has asked Congress to
appropriate the necessary money. Gen. Brooke
telegraphs this morning from Pine Ridge,
spying : ^ There has been an issue of rations,
excepting beef. The orders to the agent at this
Agency, from the Secretary of the Interior, in-
crease the Indians* rations but slightly in
meat.' **

Word from the Bad Lands, whither most of
the hostiles had secluded themselves, ran as
follows :

The hostile Indians are making use of every
moment's delay on the part of the military to
move on them by strengthening ^i'^^^V^Wr-^

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MASTBRING THB STTUATION.

almost impregnable camp in the dreaded Bad
Lands. The 500 or 600 squaws with them are
working day and night digging rifle pits about
the camp.

This is something very unusual, if not wholly
unprecedented, on the part of Indians preparing
for war. The reason for this move is, our scouts
say, more to insure the protection of the im-
mense quantities of stolen beef and provisions in
the camp than to insure a greater slaughter of
soldiers. The moment that these supplies are
captured by the military that moment the Indians
must surrender, unless their thirst for blood is so
intense as to lead them to fight until they are
downed, either by starvation or United States
bullets. At best, whether the military can cap-
ture the bulk of the hostilesVsupplies or not, the
Indians have undoubtedly secreted small quanti*
ties sufficient in the aggregate to run them for at
least eight or ten weeks. .^

On December 4, President Harrison received
the following memorial from Rosebud agency :

Great Father : This day I will write you a let-
ter with a good heart. When we gave up the
Black Hills you told us in that treaty that a man
would get three pounds of beef a day. The
meaning was three pounds for one man. Besides,

MASTERING THB SITUATION.

ajj

you said we could get food just like the soldiers.
You did not, however, give it to us at this rate.

Great Father, we are starving, and beg you>
therefore, to give to us just so, as you have prom-
ised. Thirty men of us ; yet us, get for 18 days
(onjy one cow) to eat ; that is the reason I men*
tion it And if you do not well understand you
send me (Hollow Horn Bear) traveling money
and I will come with five men«

" Great Father, if you do not (want to) do so,
then please let us have a soldier for our father
(Agent) when our present father*s term* is out.
Great Father, please do us this favor. J

Signed by 102 Sioux Indians.

The news from Pine Ridge for December 5,
showed no change in the situation. It ran
briefly : The hostile Rosebud Indians sleep upon
their arms, prepared constantly for an attack.
They have three lines of signal couriers between
this agency and their camp, and any movement
of the troops would be known in a few moments.

They have taken all they wish of the Govern-
ment's beef herd and burned the buildings and
corrals. They are living high and are happy.
They have moved to the tdg;e of the Bad Lands.
Military preparations proceed rapidly. Unless
the Indians come in within a very few days troops

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MASTB&INO TH8 8ITUATI0K*

will be equipped and in position, when an advance
may be ordered.

A. scare at Frisco amounted to a panic. Four
thousand Indians were encamped on tbe Soutb
Canadian. Settlers from the surrounding country
came flocking into the village by scores, and re*
ports of depredations were rife. At Cannon Ball
station, Captain Ketchem had an interview with
all the Chiefs of the Yanktonnais who could be
summoned at short notice, such as Two Bears,
Wolf, Necklace, Big Head, Black Tomahawk and
Red Fish.

They stated that they had no grievances, and
with one accord said the later treaties had been
complied with. They expressed grave fears lest
the conduct of Bull and others would result in
wat*, and that the Crook-Foster-Wamer treaty
would be abrogated thereby. They were assured
that friendly Indians would not suffer and were
content

On December 7, General Miles thus pictured >
the situation: — ^'^ Generals Ruger and Brooke
have been doing all they could to put the small
number of available troops in position to be ^ise.
ful, and so far as possible staying the threatened
cydone, yet the end of the Indi^i troubles is by
no means immediately at hand. No other civi-
lized coimtxy <m earth would tolerate many thou*

MASTBRING THB SITUATION.

»"

sands of armed savages scattered through diflfei*.
ent States and Territories. J

The people of Texas, Western Kansas' Ne-
braska, North and South Dakota, Montana, Wy-
oming, Utah, Eastern Washington, Idaho, An-
zona and New Mexico are seriously interested in
this subject While the fire may be suppressed
in one place, it will be still smouldering and liable
to break out at other places where the least ex-
pected under the present system."

After great difficulty. Lieutenant Gaston of the
8th Cavalry succeeded in getting a conference
with the Cheyennes at the Tongue River Mis-
sion. He reported as present, the chiefs Spotted
Wolf, Old Crow, White Elk, Bad Gun, Porcu-
pine and a number of other Cheyennes, Sioux,
and Fire Crow, an Ogallalah Sioux. The result
of the conference was not satisfactory, but it was
thought that an appeal to force could be avoided.
General Brooke also succeeded in securing an
audience with the hostiles who had got beyond
reach into the Bad Lands. The chiefs came to
the conference bearing a flag of truce and armed
with Winchester and Springfield rifles. The en-
trance of the novel procession produced a flutter
of excitement, the greatest that has been known
here at the agency since the trouble began.

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MASTBUNG THB SITUATION.

IPirst came, the cliiefs, who were Turning Bear,
Big Turkey, High Pine, Big Bad Horse and
Bull Dog, who was one of the leaders in the Cus-
ter massacre. Next came Two Strike, the head
chief, seated in a buggy with Father Jute. Sur-
rounding these was a body guard of four young
warriors. All the Indians were decorated with war
paint and feathers, while many wore ghost dance
leggins and the ghost dance shirts dangling at
their saddles.

Bunches of eagle feathers were tied on the
manes and tails of most of the ponies, while the
backs of the docile little animals were streaked
with paint The luridly, warlike cavalcade pro-
ceeded at once to General Brooke's spacious
headquarters in the agency residence. At a
given signal all leaped to the ground, hitched
their ponies to the trees, and guided by Father
Jute, they entered the GeneraPs apartments,
where the council was held, lasting two hours.

At the beginning of the pow-wow General
Brooke explained that the Great Father, through
him, asked them to come in and have a talk
regarding the situation. A great deal of misun-
derstanding and trouble had arisen by the reports
taken to and fro between the camps by irrespon-
sible parties, and it was, therefore, considered
vexy necessary that they have a talk face to face.

KASTBRXNG THB SITUATION.

a37

Through him, he said, the Father wanted to
tell them if they would come in near the agency
where he (Gen, Brooke) could see them often
and not be compelled to depend on heresay, that
he would give them plenty to eat and employ
many of their young men as scouts, etc. He
said he had heard they were hostile Indians, but
he did not believe it. The soldiers did not come
there to fight, but to protect the settlers and keep
peace. He hoped they (the Indians) were all in
favor of peace as the Great Father did not want
war. As to the feeling over the change in the
boundary line between Pine Ridge and the Rose-
bud Agency, he said that and many other things
would be settled satisfactorily after they had
shown a disposition to come in as asked by the
Great Father. Wounded Klnee was suggested
as a place that would prove satisfactory to the
Great Father to have them live. The represent-
atives of the hostiles listened with contracted
brows, sidelong glances at one another and low
grunts.

When the General had concluded his remarks.
Turning Bear came forward and spoke in reply.

'It would be a bad thing for them to come nearer
the agency because there was no water or grass
for their horses there. He could not understand

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MASTBRINO THE SITUATION.

howtheiryoung men could be employed as scouts
if ttere was no enemy to be watched. They would
be glad to be employed and get paid for it They
might come in, but as the old men and old women
have no horses, and as their people have nothing
generally to pull their wagons, it would take them
a long time to come«

If they should come they would want the Great
Father to send horses and wagons out to the Bad
Land camp and bring in the great quantity of beef,
etc, they had there, and take it anywhere to a
new camp that might be agreed on. In conclu-
sion the speaker hoped that they would be given
something to eat before they started back.'*

To this the General replied that they should be
given food. As for horses and wagons being sent
after the beef, the General said that and many other
thingswould be considered after they had acceded
to the Great Father's request to move into the
agency. Any reference whatever to the wholesale
devastation and depredation, thieving and burn-
ing of buildings, etc, was studiously avoided on
both sides. After the pow-wow was over, the
band was conducted to the Quartermaster's De-
partment and there given a big feast The squaws
living at the agency came out in gala day feathers
and gave a squaw dance.

MASTBRINO THB SITUATIOK. 139

The dispatches of December loth ran in brief,
as follows :

Indications at General Miles's headquarters^
to^ay pointed to a dramatic close of the Messiah
craze among the Indians of the Northwest An
immediate tightening of the great militaiy cor-
don now completely surrounding the ghost dan-
cers seems to be the programme.

The climax apparently will be a total disarming
of the redskins enclosed like so many rats in a
huge trap. General Brooke is on the south.
Colonel Sumner is on the north. General Carris
on the west and Colonel Merriam is on the east
with their respective commands.

Those of the nth ran thus ;

Reports from General Ruger and General
Brooke are quite favorable. The presence of the
troops now in position has had a demoralizing
influence upon the Indians, and those that a week
ago were defiant and warlike are now giving evi-
dence of submission. General Brooke reports
that the Indians near White River have turned
loose their stolen stock and were coming in.
Colonel Sumner reports quite a large number
of Indians in his vicinity who are willing to obey
his orders. These belong to Big Foot's follow-
ers and others, located about the southwestern

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«40

21A8TBUNG TH8 8ITUATIOK.

part of Cheyenne River. "^ /

On the lath General Brooke reported from
Pine Ridge :

From reports received I am of the opinion that
Two Strike and all the other chiefs are coming
in from White River. Short Bull and Kicking
Bear, with a small following, broke away and
went back into the Bad Lands. Think it likely
they will go north ; I have notified all troops north
and west There was quite a fight, and some In-
dians were hurt I shall try to get them in here,
but they may get beyond reach.

The Indians in the ''Bad Lands'' had fallen out
among themselves over the question of returning
to the agency, and a terrible battle ensued at
Grass Basin between the followers of Short Bull
and Two Strike, in which the latter triumphed.
A battle also took place between the Indians and
settlers on French Creek, in which the Indians
were worsted.

In pursuance of the plan to use the Indian
police for the purpose of arresting Ghost Dancers
and those who refused to come into the agencies*
General Miles sent out a strong squad to the head-
quarters of Sitting Bull, on the Grand River,
with orders to prevent his escape into the Bad
Lands as was his declared intention. This wily

MASTERING THB SITUATIOK.

341

and powerful Chief, whose influence over the
Sioux and their neighbors had never ceased to
be a source of trouble, might have prolonged
the agitation indefinitely, or precipitated bloody
hostilities, had he been allowed to escape. It was
therefore important to arrest him, and the attempt
to do so led to his death. It was on December
15, that the Indian police started out to arrest
Sitting Bull, having understood that he proposed
starting for the Bad Lands at once.

The police were followed by a troop of cavalry
under Captain Fouchet and infantry under Col-
onel Drum. When the police reached Sitting
Bull's camp on the Grand River, about forty
miles from Standing Rock, they found arrange-
ments being made for departure. The cavalry
had not yet reached the camp when the police
arrested Bull and storted back with him. His
followers attempted his rescue and fighting com-
menced. Four policemen were killed and three
wounded. Eight Indians were killed, including
Sitting Bull and his son, Crow Foot and several
others wounded.

The police were surrounded for some time, but .
maintained their ground until relieved by United
States troops, who took possession of Sitting
BulPs camp, with all women, children and pro-
perty. Sitting Bull's followers, W^^^}i}y^^l^

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,41 MASTERING' THB SITUATION,

hundred men, deserted tlicir families and fled
west up the Grand Riven _

General Schofield when asked for his opinion '
of the eflfect on the other Indians of the killing
of Sitting Bull, said, ** He indulged the hope
expressed by others that this would hasten the
settlement of the Indian trouble. He thought it
would make more definite the lines of division
between the friendly Indians and those determined
to be hostile. He had from the start of the
trouble in the Northwest, hoped the matter would
be settled, without conflict, and regretted that
blood had been shed, but he hoped for favorable \^

results."

When Secretary Proctor was asked concern-
ing the eflfect of the killing he said he did not
think it would have any bad effect on friendly
Indians. They had not been kindly disposed to-
wards Sitting Bull, and had no love for him. It
was only with the disa£Fected Indians that he had
any influence.

When Sitting Bull surrendered to the United
States authorities in the spring of '8i, he was at
first placed in the prison at Fort Randall, S. D.,
but later transferred totheStanding Rock Agency.

The old man felt the loss of his power keenly
and sought some means to regain at least a part
of his lost prestige.

MASTBRINO THB SmXATION.

Pretending that he desired to secure a fam:
and settle down like a white man, he was given
a location on the beautiful Grand Riyer, at a point
43 miles southwest of the Standing Rock Agency,
which was' located at a point half way between
the Grand and Cannon Ball Rivers on the Mis-
souri. At the home of Sitting Bull gathered a
few who still acknowledged that he was a chief,
and he longed for the time when he could again
count over the large number of his followers.

During the time he was away from the agency.
Gall, John Grass and other noted chiefs secured
their fonner positions as leaders, and on Bull's
return they were in a position to interfere with
his ambition, and they thwarted his every move
toward hostility to the Government, their influ-
ence with the Indians being so much greater than
his, that they prevented much trouble that had
been planned by the old rascal.

The first report of the coming of the Indian
Messiah was hailed by Sitting Bull as the longed
for opportunity, and he tried his best to take ad-
vantage of it

Naturally superstitious, the Indians were
ready for such an outpouring of their pent up
feelings in the form of a religious dance. Bull
had always gained his greatest success from his
^my u . Medicine Ma^ijj^Iomat. ud he^e

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«44

MASTBRING THB SITUATION.

felt that the time for him to get his fevenge on
the other chiefs and the Government had arrived.

He at the start joined in with the ghost dan-
cers, not shouting and dancing so much as incit-
ing the others to the greater activity in that
line.

When the Indians would go dancing around
in a circle until they fell to the ground from diz-
ziness and exhaustion, the wily old chief would
take his place alongside of the fallen one, and^
after a few words with him, would announce
what visions the Messiah and the coming again
of the hunting grounds of the past had been wit-
nessed, and the dance would be resumed with re-
newed vigor. Soon another would fall in a faint
and the same programme would be gone through
with.

By carefully nursing this budding religious
belief, Bull was fast regaining his old prestige,
and it was but natural that the Government
would, at the first announcement of his connec-
tion with the troubles, seek to effect his capture.

This had been planned at an early day by Gener-
al Miles, but President Harrison thought the time
had not yet come for such action and the arrest
was postponed.

Buffalo Bill went out to Standing S.ock Agency,
with orders to bring Bull in, dead or alive, and

MASTBRING THB SITUATION.

he would have made a splendid attempt to do so »
had not the order been revoked.

Sitting Bull's followers after the death of their
chief, fled up the Grand River, leaving behind
them all their tools and their families, which
were taken possession of by the soldiers.

After going a short distance up the river the
fleeing redskins separated, and went off in all
directions through the country towards the Bad
Lands.

Colonel Corbin thus sketches Sitting Bull :

" The first time I saw Sitting Bull, was thir-
teen years ago. I was on a commission with
General Terry and we met him near Fort Walsh.
He was then about 40 years of age. He has
never been a chief cor even a warrior of a high
order. In the Custer massacre and in the fight
with Reno he skipped out with his people and
got away from danger. He has been a leader in
organizing the Ghost Dance and has taken
advantage of the religious craze to send emissa-
ries to different bands to induce them to make
trouble. The purpose was to assemble the
warriors in the spring and with the aid of the
Messiah bring back to life all of the dead Indians
and restore the country to all its pristine glory.
Sitting Bull was a shrewd politician and took
advantage of the prevalent sentimental feelinsfp

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HASTBRING THB SITUATIOK.

« He took Ills cliildren out of school and gathered
about him the small band he had in this secluded
place, where he believed he would not bedisturbed.
It was necessary to take steps to arrest him/'

General Miles thtis viewed the situation :

*^ My information was reliable and positive of
his (Sitting Bull's) emissaries and runners going
to different tribes and exciting them to hostility,
and of the reports in returning to his camp. The
order for his arrest was not given any too soon, as
he was about leaving the reservation with lOO
fighting men.

The effect of his death has been dishearten-
ing to many others. I have directed the troops
to ride down and capture or destroy the few that
have escaped after his death from Standing Rock.
General Brooke has more than looo lodges, or
50cx> Indians, under his control at Pine Ridge,
but there are still 50 lodges or over 200 fighting
men in the Bad Lands that are very defiant and
hostile."

On December 17, General Brooke reported that
Two Strike and 184 lodges with 800 Indians had
come in, and were encamped in front of the
agency at Pine Ridge; A great number still re-
mained in the Bad Lands, defiant and threaten*
ingwar. Every possible means were being used to

MASTERING THE 8XTUATX0N.

a47

restrain the friendly Sioux then on the reserva-
tion. Their number was estimated at 16,000.

On the 18th, skirmishes were reported at a
ranche near Smithville. A constant watch was
kept over the movements in the Bad Lands. Ac-
cotints of depredations and murders were con-
stantly coming to the respective headquarters.

On December 20th, 500 friendlies left Pine
Ridge for the Bad Lands to urge the hostiles to
come in. 39 of Sitting BulPs followers sent word
that they would return. This was regarded as
most favorable news. Big Foot and Stump sur-
rendered and returned to the agency. General
Miles had all his troops well in hand, and the cor-
don was so tight that none of the hostiles could
escape, not even through the intricate passages of
the Bad Lands. He was hopeful of a general sur-
render at no distant day. Official data showed
the following mortality in the attempt to arrest
Sitting Bull:—

** Police Force — Bull Head, in command, dan-
gerously wounded (four wounds); Shave Head,
First Sergeant, mortally wounded (since dead);
Little Eagle, Fourth Sergeant, killed; Middle,
private, painfully wounded ; Afraid of Soldier,
private, killed; John Armstrong, special police,
killed ; Hawkman, special police^ killed.

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ICASTBRING THB SITUATION.

" Hostiles— Killed outright, Sitting Bull, Black
Bird, Catch the Bear, Little Assinaboine, Crow
Foot, (Sitting Bull's son, j; years old). (The
above are designated as very bad men.) Spotted
Horn Bull, a chief; Brave Thunder, a chief, and
Chase, wounded. Several were badly wounded,
but were carried oflf by their friends.

On December 25, word came from Fort Bennett
that the Indian war there was over. It seemed
that the Indians there were worse scared than
anybody, and would have come in long before, but
for the fact that they feared massacre. After the
Indians arrived at Bennett several councils of
war were held to determine whether they would
give up their arms or not. Finally they agreed
to when General Miles asked them. Agent
Palmer said: "No arms, no rations or blankets.**
This soon brought them to time, and all arms
were soon stacked at the agency. Captain Hearst,
commanding oflScer at Fort Sully, received the
capitulation of 174 Uncapapas, including 70 of
Sitting Bull's band and 30 from Rosebud Agency.
iNardsse Narcelle, boss farmer, brought in 41a
of Big Foot's Indians. Out of these 98 stands of
arms were collected. They were nearly all Win-
chesters, of every description and of vety anti-
quated pattern.

MASTERING TUB SITUATION.

349

Sitting Bull's men wanted to remain at Chey.
enne, and said they are afraid to return to Stand*
i:ig Rock. All surrendered, and the best of care
was given them. All of the teams at the agency
were started to Dupree, to bring in the sick women
and children. Many of the leaders among the
Indians acted very ugly in making final settle-
ments, and there was a great deal of quarreling
among themselves.

Two attempts were made by hostiles to break
up a camp of Cheyenne scouts on Battle Creek.
The first attack was made by only a few of the
Indians, who were quickly repulsed, with
a loss of two killed and several wounded. Three
of the Cheyenne Indian scouts were wounded,
and it is thought one is fatally hurt

The second attack was made after dark by
what was supposed to be the whole band, who
were led by Kicking Bear himself. Volley after
volley was fired on both sides, and a desultory
fire was kept up for an hour or more. ^

On December 28, General Miles received word '
of the success of the friendly commission sent into
the Bad Lands. " The hostiles there,** says the
dispatch, ^^had listened to the persuasion of
General Brooke*s Ogalalla and Brule peace com-
missioners, and were moving in toward Pine

Ridge. This confirmed by General £tooke*s disf ^

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MASTERINO TUB SITUATION.

patches yesterday. The whole body of braves,
squaws, and papooses of the Brules, Cheyennes
and Northern Indians who have been enjoying
several weeks' outing at the famous terrace of
Wall Camps in the Bad Lands, killing and smok-
ing beef, stealing horses and engaging in other
healthful and exciting pastimes, are now en route
to the hospitable agency at Pine Ridge.

General Miles has issued orders to General
Carr, Colonel Ofell and Captain Ford, in com-
mand of the western and northern sections of the
cordon, to send in forces to carefully search the
Bad Lands for straggling Indians, cached arms,
etc., and to draw in toward the agency. -^

It seems that Big Foot had made his escape
firom the agency after his surrender, and had f uc-
ceeded in eluding pursuit But his camp was
now found near Wounded Knee, by General
Forsyth's command, and he determined to dis-
arm it at once. He, (December 29th,) issued
orders to have the 150 male Indians, who had
been prisoners called from the tepees, saying he
wanted to talk to them. They obeyed slowly and
sullenly, and ranged in a semi-circle in front of
the tent where Big Foot, their chief, lay sick
with pneumonia. By twenties they were ordered
to give up their arms. The first twenty went to
their tents and came back with only two guns*

MASTBRIKO THB SITUAnON.

«5t

This irritated Major Whiteside, who was super-
intending this part of the work. After a hasty
consultation with General Forsyth he gave the
order for the cavalrymen^ who were all dismount-
ed and formed in almost a square about 25 paces
back, to close in. They did so and took a stand
within 20 feet of the Indians, now in their centre.
When this was done a detachment of cavalrymen
afoot was sent to search the tepees.

This work had hardly been entered upon when
the 120 desperate Indians turned upon the sol-
diers who were gathered closely about thetepees,
and immediately a storm of firing was poured
upon the military.

It was as though the order to search had been
•the signal. The soldiers, not anticipating any
such action, had been gathered in very closely,
and the first firing was terribly disastrous to
them. The reply was immediate, however, and
in an instant it seemed that the draw in which
the Indian camp was set, was a sunken Vesuvius.
The soldiers, maddened at the sight of their fall-
ing comrades, hardly awaited the command, and
in a moment the whole front was a sheet of fire,
above which the smoke rolled) obscuring the cen-
tral scene firom view.

Through this horrible curtain single Indians
could be seen at times flying before the ^IIJ^.^^

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MASTBRING THB SITUATION.

after the first discharge from the carbines of the
troopers there were few of them left ; they fell on
all sides like grain in the course of the scythe.
Indians and soldiers lay together, and wounded
fought on the ground. Off through the draw
toward the bluffs the few remaining warriors fled.
Turning occasionally to fire, but now evidently
caring more for escape than battle. Only the
wounded Indians seemed possessed of the courage'
of devils. From the ground where they had fallen
they continued to fire until their ammunition was
gone or until killed by the soldiers. ^

Both sides forgot everything, excepting only
the loading and discharging of arms.' It was only
in the early part of the affray that hand to hand
fighting was seen. The carbines were clubs,
sabres gleamed, and war clubs, circling in the air,
came down like thunder bolts. But this was only
for a short time. The Indians could not stand
that storm from the soldiers — ^they had not hoped
to. It was only a stroke of life before death. The
remnant fled, and the battle became a hunt It
was now that the artillery was called into requisi-
tion. Before, the fighting was so close that the
guns could not be trained without danger of death
to the soldiers. Now, with the Indians flying
where they might, it was easier to reach them.
The Catling and H^tchldss guns were trained,

MASTBRING TFH SITUATION.

253

and then began a heavy firing which lasted half
an hour, with frequent heavy volleys of musketry
and cannon.

It was a war of extermination now with the troop-
ers and it was diflScult to restrain the troops. The
tactics were almost abandoned. About the only
tactics were to kill while it could be done. Wher-
ever an Indian could be seen, down into the creek
and up over the bare hills they were followed by
artillery and musketry fire, and for several
minutes the engagement went on, until not a live
Indian was in sight

On December 30, the following official tele-
grams passed :

The losses in this sudden affair were, Captain
Wallace, 7th Cavalry, and 25 men killed ; Lieu-
tenant Garlington and 34 men wounded; also
Lieutenant Hawthorne, ad Cavalry, and 150 In-
dians killed, wounded and captured. The news of
the battle at Wounded Knee excited the Indians
at Pine Ridge in an alarming manner. The en-^
tire camp was soon in commotion, and the rest
less young bucks at once took to the hills,
apparently eager for the fray. Even the most
loyal of the Indians were affected, and the
couriers themselves seemed eager for blood. It
was not long before desultory firing was heard

near the agency. . r\r\c\lt>

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MASTBRING THE SITUATION.

General Brook telegraphed as follows :
Colonel Forsyth saj'^s 62 dead Indian men were
counted on the plain where the attempt was made
to disarm Big Foot's band and where the fight
begun ; on other parts of the ground there where
18 more. These did not include those killed in
ravines, where dead warriors were seen but not
counted. Six were brought in badly wounded
and six others were with a party of 23 men and
women, which Captain Jackson had to abandon
when attacked by about 160 Brule Indians from
the agency. This accounts for 92 men killed
and leaves but few alive and unhurt. The women
and children broke for the hills when the fight
commenced and comparatively few of them were
hurt and few brought in. 39 are here, of which
number, 21 are wounded. Had it not been for the
attack by the Brules an accurate account would
have been made, but the ravines were not searched
afterwards. I think this shows very little appre-
hension from Big Foot's band in the future. A
party of 40 is reported as held by the scouts at
the head of Mexican Creek. These consist of all
sizes, and the cavalry from Rosebud will bring
them in if it is true.

John R. Brooks.

These Indians under Big Foot were among the
most desperate there were ; 38 of the remainder

MASTERING THE SITUATION.

255

of Sitting BulPs following that joined Big Foot
on the Cheyenne river, and 30 that broke away
from Hump's following, when he took his band
and Sitting BulPs Indians to Fort Bennett,
making in all, nearly 160 warriors. Before leaving
their camps on the Fort Cheyenne River they cut
up their harness, mutilated tbeir wagons, and
started South for the Bad Lands, evidently intend-
ing not to return, but to go to war. Troops were
placed between them and ^he Bad Lands, and
they never succeededin joining the hostiles there.
All their movements were intercepted, and their
severe loss at the hands of the Seventh Cavalry,
may be a wholesome lesson to the other Sioux.

Miles.

General Schofield said that the fight was a
most unfortunate occurrence, but that he did not
see how it could have been avoided. He sent a
telegram to General Miles sa3ring that he
regarded the news received from him as still en-
couraging, and expressing an opinion that he
(Miles) would be master . of the situation very
soon. He also expressed his thanks to the
officers and men of the Seventh Cavalry' for the
gallant conduct displayed by them.

This fight gave rise to a remarkable diversity
of sentiment among army officers and civilians.
The slaughter of women and childreui a thingr

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9Sli MASTBRIKO TUB SITUATION.

SO unusual in civilized warfare, called for an
explanation and defence. General Forsyth was
placed under duress and a commission was ordered
to inquire into the fact whether he had been guilty
of conduct unbecoming an officer. The moral
effect of his victory was lost in the suspicions
which clouded it The Commissioner of Indian
affairs wrote to the Supervisor of Education at
Pine Ridge for his opinion of the battle. His
reply, in brief, was :

'The testimony of the survivors of Big Foot's
band is unanimous on one important point-—
namely, that the Indians did not deliberately
plan a resistance. The party was not a war
party, according to their statements (which I be-
lieve to be true), but a party intending to visit the
agency at the invitation of Red Cloud. ^ \

The Indians say that many of the men were
unarmed. When they sent the troops they antic*
ipated no trouble. There was constant friendly ^
intercourse between the soldiers and the Indians,
even women shaking hands with the officers and
men. The demand for their arms was a surprise
to the Indians, but the great majority of them
chose to submit quietly. The tepees had already
been searched, and a large number of guns,
knives and hatchets confiscated when the search*
ing of the persons of the men was begun.

MASTBRING THB SITUATION.

The women say that they too were searched,
and their knives (which they always carried for
domestic purposes) taken from them. A num-
ber of the men had surrendered their rifles and
cartridge belts, when one young man (who is
described by the Indians as a good-for-nothing
young fellow) fired a single shot This called
forth a volley from the troops, and the firing and
confusion became general.

I do not credit the statement, which has been
made by some, that the women carried arms and
participated actively in the fight The weight of
testimony is overwhelmingly against this sup-
position. There may have been one or two isolated
cases of this kind, but there is no doubt that the
great majority of the women and children, as well
as many unarmed men and youth, had no thought
of anything but flight They were pursued up
the ravines and shot down indiscriminately by the
soldiers.

It is reported that one of the officers called out,
"Don*t shoot the squaws,'* but the men were
doubtless too much excited to obey. The killing
of the women and children wa§ iu part unavoid-
able, owing to the confusion, but I think there is
no doubt that it was in many cases deliberate ai}d
intentional. The 7th Cavalry, Custer's old com-
mand, had an old grudge to repay, t r-v r^ /-t T />
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MASTERINO THE SITUATION.

The party of scouts who buried the dead report
eighty-four bodies of men and boys, forty-four
of women, and eighteen of young children. Some
were carried off by the hostiles. A number of
prisoners, chiefly women, have since died
of their wounds, and more will soon follow.
The party who visited the battlefield on Jan-
nary i to rescue any wounded who might have
been abandoned, and brought in seven, report
that nearly all the bodies of the men were lyiug
close about Big Foot's tents, while the women and
children were scattered along a distance of two
miles from the scene of the encounter.

The main reflection which occurs to me in con.
nection with this most important affair, is that the
same thing should not be allowed to happen again.
The irresponsible action of one hot headed youth
should not be the signal for a general and indis-
criminate slaughter of the unarmed and helpless.
■ The battle of Wounded Knee was followed by
an attack on the Catholic Mission at Clay Creek.
The dispatches from Pine Ridge respecting this
afl^r, read as follows :

The Seventh Cavalry had just reached camp
yesterday morning, (Dec. 30th.) after repulsing
the attack made on their supply train by Two
Strike's band, when a courier arrived with word
that the Catholic mission was on fire and thp

MASTERING THE SITUATION.

259

teachers and pupils were being massacred. In
20 minutes the weary and hungry and almost
exhausted cavalry were once more in motion.
They found that the fire was at the day school
one mile this side of the mission.

The Indians, under command of Little Wound
and Two Strike, were found to the number of
1800 about a mile beyond the Mission. The
Seventh formed a line and began the fighting,
which was carried on by only 30 or 40 Indians
at a time, while the great mass kept concealed.
General Forsyth suspected an ambush and did
not let them draw him into dangerous ground.
Colonel Henry started one hour later tlian Fors3rth,
and, owing to the exhaustion of his horses, had
to travel very slow. The Seventh became sur-
rounded by the redskins, but just as the circle
was ready to charge, the Ninth broke in upon the
rear of the hostiles and they vanished. The
weary soldiers slowly retreated, reaching the
agency at dark. The infantry had been ordered
out, but were stopped by the sight of the head of
the column of cavalry. The soldiers, heroic and
brave as they were, were greatly outnumbered,
and there are not enough troops at this point to
clean out these Indians, who are still camped
withinseven miles of the agency. The damage j
sustained by the troops is smalL Lieutenant [C

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MASTBRIKO TH9 SITUATION.

Mann, of Company E, Seventh Cavalry, was
wonnded, shot through the side* The First
Sergeant of Company K was also wounded.

The situation was exceedingly gloomy in
every respect The weather became intensely
cold. Blinding snow storms were raging. Bands
of hostiles renewed their depredations all along
the Nebraska and Dakota border, and the militia
of the former State was called into service. Gen-
etal Miles took the field in person and started
from Chadwick to Pine Ridge at the head of a
large force of cavalry. Rumors were constantly
arriving to hand, of the breaking away of the In-
dians from the agency for the purpose of joining
thehostiles in the Bad Lands. Only squaws and
those unable to fight remained behind to draw
rations and keep up a show of friendliness. One
of the most useful of the missionaries, Father Craft,
received severe wounds in the indiscriminate
firing around Pine Ridge. Sentiment seemed to
shape up everywhere that a slaughter was immi-
nent, and that nothing but an exterminating
warfare would meet the situation.

The dispatches of January x, 1891, dated at
Pine Ridge ran as follows :

The upper Brules are in open rebellion. After
two months of unrest and uncertainty the Sioux
have finally shown their hand. Three thousand

MASTERING THB SITUATION.

961

of them, under the leadership of such cunning
fellows as Big Road, Kicking Bear, Little Wound,
Short Bull and Jack Red Cloud, and eveu old
Red Cloud Himself, have turned upon, the Gov-
ernment, for what will doubtless prove to be their
last stand against the military. American Horse
is the only remaining loyal chief, but his follow-
ing is so small that it would make no difference
whether he counseled war or peace.

Squads of Indians have been leaving for the
warpath to-day. Under the cloak of a heavy
snow storm, they started off to the north, but
their destination is not known. It is thought,
however, that they will make for the Bad Lands,
or the vicinity of the old Spotted Tail reserva-
tion. Troops have been ordered to intercept
them. Depredations have already begun on the
ranches. Scores of houses along White River
have been burned and the cattle run off and
killed.

A scout, who came in Tuesday night, said that
the hostiles, reassured by the fact that the sol-
diers quit the field during the afternoon, had
planned to attack and bum the agency with fire-
arrows, then stampede the troops and massacre
the inhabitants. The report was true to some
extent, but the heavy lines of pickets stopped the
savages. ^^ ^

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MASTERING THB 8ITUATI0K.

General Brooke ordered 100,000 rounds of
ammunition from Omaha.

The panic in the railroad towns in the vicinity
of Pine Ridge was indescribable. Settlers were
pouring into the villages on foot, in wagons and
on horseback. Many of them abandoned their
stock and household goods, while others brought
their cattle and ponies with them. Some of the
refugees who traveled through the blizzard were
badly frozen, and many women and children
became ill from exposure. ^

On the morning of January 2d, 1891, General
Miles telegraphed General Schofield, saying that
3,000 Indians, men, women and children, and in-
cluding about 600 bucks, are now encamped in a
section of the Bad Lands, about fifteen miles from
the Pine Ridge agency, and that there is almost
a cordon of troops around them. General Miles
announces that he hopes to be able to induce
these hostiles to surrender without a struggle.
The spot where they are encamped he describes
as somewhat like the lava beds of California,
where the Modocs made their final fight. It is an
excellent position from an Indian standpoint, but
there are no avenues of escape, all having been
closed by the troops. General Miles says the In-
dians have gathered some cattle and provisions,
and appear to be determined to make their fight

MASTBRINO THB SITUATION.

a63

for supremacy at this point He says he will
make another eflfort to get them back to the
agency without bloodshed, and, in order to do so,
he has established a regular siege around this
stronghold.

The forces at his command at this date were
the First, Sixth, Seventh (eight companies), and
Ninth Cavalry; one company of the First Artil-
lery, Company E ; one company of the Fourth
Artillery, Company F; and the First, Second,
Third, Seventh, Eighth, Twelfth, Sixteenth,
Seventeenth, Twentieth, Twenty-first, Twenty-
second and Twenty-fifth Infantry, making in all
15 1 companies. This should have meant an actual
fighting force of at least 10,000 officers and men,
but it is probable that the ranks were not full,
and that the regular army under General Miles
did npt exceed 8,000 men at the most. -->

While every day brought his forces more and '
more in touch, there could be no doubt of the
fact that the hostiles in the Bad Lands were being
augmented by desertions from the agencies, and
their leaders such as Short Bull, Two Strike and
probably Red Cloud (though the latter was credited
being in the employ of the Government), were
very determined upon war. But while this was so,
there was a large contingent of those who ranked
as hostiles which favored peaceful f^^^>^^ />

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a64 ICA8TBKING THB SITUATION,

agencies. The hostiles, therefore, were dis-
cordant, and time would only widen the sources
of discontent The excitement attending and fol- •
lowing the Wounded Knee affair, had interfered
with the getting of accurate information, but
General Miles persisted in a quiet and resolute
movement of his forces toward the hostile centres.
Old Red Cloud came on January 8th, and reported
that he had lost all control over the younger men \
of his tribe. ^

'The nearness of the troops to the hostiles was
attended with its dangers. Skirmishes were not
infrequent. Scouting parties hardly knew what
moment they might be the victims of ambush.
On the line occupied by the 2 2d Infantry, almost
incessant firing had been kept up for several
days. On Jan. 7th, Lieutenant Casey was out
with his scouts watching the hostile camp, and,
with one Cheyenne, met two Indians, an Ogal*
lalla and a Brule. The Ogallalla warned Lieu-
tenant Casey that the Brules were bad, and would
shoot As Lieutenant Casey turned to go away
the Brule fired, striking him in the back of the
head and killing ]iim instantly. Lieutenant
Casey was one of the most brilliant and beloved
officers of the service. He had been in command
of a troop of Cheyenne scouts for about a year,
and was working earnestly in the interest of the

HASTBRING THB SITUATION.

8<s

Indians themselves. He had a reputation in the
army of possessing an unusually accurate
knowledge of the Indian character.

At this critical date the Interior Department
of the Government summed up the situation as
follows :

There are in all about 20,ocx> Sioux Indians, '
men, women and children, on the Northern res-
ervations. Of this number 16,500 are accounted
for, as they are living on the reservations in peace
and not taking any part in the present disturb-
ance. This leaves about 3,500 men, women and
children to face the earthworks, the howitzers
and the 8,000 men now under the command of
General Miles. The hostile camp is located
about 17 miles north of the agency, and the cor-
don of troops surrounds the hostile camp, with
the exception of the south side, the object being
to drive the Indians into the reservation. There
is constant communication between the hostile
camp and the agency. The hostiles are well
supplied with beef, but they have no sugar or
coflfee, except as they are supplied by the ** friend- -
lies,'' as the reservation Indians are called.
While the situation is regarded as a hopeless one
for the Indians, yet it is believed that they have
no intention of surrendering. I

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ICA8TBRINO THB SITUATION.

At this juncture the Government deemed it
wise to transfer the agencies from the Interior to
the War Department General Miles regarded
this as an excellent move. It avoided conflict of
authority and left him unmolested in his policy
of slowly drawing his cordon around thehostiles,
avoiding bloodshed, unless it became inevitable,
giving them time to get over their craze and re-
turn to reason. He w^ convinced that dissen-
sions among the hostiles were daily growing, and
that he could afford to wait, so long as they were
destroying one another.

At intervals of every two or three days, he or*
dered his troops to take up advanced positions, a
few miles nearer the hostile camps. These move-
ments were generally made under cover of the
night, and the following morning would reveal
the unwelcome truth to the hostiles that their
case was hourly growing more and more desperate.
Moreover, proximity gave those who wished to
come in a chance to do so, for they could reach the
coverofthetroops without the dcmger of pursuit.

By the 12th of December the policy of General
Miles had begun to tell favorably on the hostiles.
His show of force was such as to convince them
of the futility of war on their part Their dissen*
sions, their lack of food, the passing away of the
craze, the growth of the impression that after all

MA8TBRING THB SITUATION.

267

the troops were not intended for their extermiuap
tion, a gradual subsidence of all the thoughts and
passions that had persuaded them — all these had
had time to operate. The panicky feeling of the last
few days was passing away, and the beginning
of a peaceful end was believed to be in sight

This feeling was confirmed by news that prom-
ineut chiefs were relenting and were anxious to
come within the protection of the agency. Soon
came other news to the effect that they were
actually moving toward the agency with their
followers. While they had to be watched as eni-
mies, for there was no telling whether they were
acting in good faith or not, they were nevertheless
encouraged. Nothing was thrown in their way,
on the contrary, they were permitted to move
just as fast as they saw fit. the thought being
that the more voluntary their surrender the more
effective it would be. Gentle pressure was exert--
ed behind in the shape of a closing in of the
troops. The scene about Pine Ridge grew ani-
mated. The effect of the coming of the hostiles on
those already within the agency was watched
with interest, not to say apprehension. Every
point available for strategy had been fortified and
occupied, so that if the hostiles should infect the
friendlies or should choose to break their

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HASTBRmO THB SITUATION.

faithi they could be punished in a summary
manner.

General Miles was now in a position to make
the demand on those who came in, that a condition
of their surrenderi should be a giving up of their
arms. This hardest of all conditions for an In-
dian, was sternly resented at first, but as the
desperation of their situation became more and
more apparent, it proved to be a condition to
which they could concede, in their own way.
Tkat way was peculiar, but not unnatural. They
secreted all their new and available arms, and
very complacently began to turn in their old and
usdiess weapons. The trick was not resented^
for the time at least, the great point being to get
a surrender. As long as the arms were not in
hand, but cached in some out of the way place,
the Indians would be as good as disarmed. The
situation as shown by the dispatches of the 12th.
of December was thus :

The announcement that a large number of
the hostiles had at length arrived within gunshot
distance of the pickets spread with rapidity
through the camp of the Indians near the camp
fire. Immediately hundreds of squaws and chil*
dren gathered in the vicinity of headquarters,
whence a view of the blu£fs beyond upon which
the hostiles were stationed could be obtained.

HASTBRINO THB SITUATION.

a69

They waited patiently for their brothers, lovers
and husbands to appear, but as evening drew
on and their devotion was not rewarded, they
gradually retired to their tepees.

At this writing there is no certainty as to what
the Indians will do. General Miles himself is iu
doubt as to what to expect then. They may, hfe
says, get within gunshot of the agency, and then
break away to the camp which they have just
abandoned. Fear of all kinds of punishment
seems to have taken possession of them, and it is
generally understood that one injudicious act on
the part of the soldiers, or the mad act of some
implacable hostile would precipitate a fight, the
consequence of which may be scarcely, imagined.

Captain Ewers will start in a few days with
Little Chiet*s band of 490 Cheyennes to take
them to the Tongue River, Montana. Little
Chief and his band have been ugly fighters in
every war for the last twenty years. In 1876
they were sent from this region to Fort Reno,
and in 1878 fought their v^ay back through the
settlements of iCansas, and Nebraska, to the
Sand Hills, near Gordon, where they were cap-
tured. Since then they have been good friends
to the whites, and have made excellent police and
scouts. The band have about 900 relatives on

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MASTBRINO THS SITUATION.

the Tongue river, and have begged for several
years to be transferred to the reservation.

General Miles determined this morning not to
parley nor confer again xidth the Indians, and
this morning he sent a messenger to the hostiles
camped at the Mission, stating his terms. He
said they must come into the Agency in small
squads, and go into camp on their grounds near
the friendly Indians. He would not object if
they choose their own camping grounds, but the
Brules and Ogallallas must not camp together,
and they must submit to the laws governing the
reservatiou and to the agent

The Indians themselves partially admit the
chiefs cannot guarantee to control the warriors.
They say they have among them about 300 young
bucks who want to fight, and a single shot will
start them. Besides this, the Indians who mur-
dered Lieutenant Casey are known, and they
know when they are taken they will be hanged
for murder. They are among the belligerent
young bucks, and they may precipitate a fight to
prevent dying by the rope. There are all these
possibilities which make it impossible to predict
the result General Miles is required to exercise
patiience almost to a ridiculous degree. He has
given the matter already more time than there is
any earthly reason for. If an attack is made, a

MASTBRINO THE SITUATION.

«7i

cry will go up from the Indians that they were
bringing in their wounded ; that their squaws
had no ponies, and that they were not given time
. to come in. It is well understood here what the
efiFect of this complaint would be in the East, and
so General Miles is compelled to wait and let
the Indians suit themselves, and move back and
forth at their pleasure. Some of them came to the
Mission, six miles northwest of here, Saturday
night Scouts reported that all the hostiles were
there and they would be in Sunday morning.
Double guards were put out, lights were kept in
the tents all night, and every man slept with his
arms within reach. In the morning word came that
the band which had beeu at the Mission the night
before had returned to the main body, 15 miles
away, and that they were almost in. The hos-
tiles have runners out, and they have been in
the camp of the " friendlies ** for the last-' 24
hours, trying to get into the military camp. The
Indians are just as anxious to know what the
whites are going to do as the whites are to know
what the Indians, will do.

Shortly after noon it was discovered that the
hostiles had made a rapid advance, and about
z,ooo of them had arrived to within 1,000 yards
of the pickets outside the agency. General

Miles and staff went to the pickci lines, and T^

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MASTBRIKO THE SITUATION.

after a short inspection of the bands, returned to
the agency for the time being.

The Indians will not be permitted to enter the
agency, and communication with them from
'within has been prohibited. When the}* do
come in the Ogallalla Sioux will be stationed near
Red Cloud's house west of the agency, while the
Brules will be placed on the east. On the same
day General Miles wrote to Buffalo Bill that the
hostiles were within half a mile of the agency
and that nothing but an accident could prevent
the establishment of peace. He authorized the
withdrawal of the State troops and thanked them
for the confidence they had afforded the people
in their frontier homes.

Though between three and four hundred of
the hostiles broke away from their camp near the
agency, on the morning of January 13th, and
made their escape to the Bad Lands, the remain-
der dung to their resolution to come in, and their
camp was in full view of the agency fortifications.
The view from the fortifications was grandly
picturesque. Behind them was a natural amphi.
theatre. A rugged broken slope two hundred
feet to the crest It was just a mile from the
agency, and White Clay creek runs beside it
On the plain were tepees by the hundred, pitched
irregulaxly, huddled together in groups here and

MASTERING TUB SITUATION.

«73

scattered widely apart there. Moving about
among the tepees a field glass showed the
bucks and squaws with their children and
dogs. Such a spectacle imprinted itself on the
mind with startling clearness, for it was huge iu
its grandeur, strikingly unique and wonderfully 1
suggestive to the imagination. ^

Just betweeu the plain and the agency, perched
on a hill behind earthworks, was a three-inch
rifle, which was trained on the camp. It seemed
to stare grimly down on the village of half^razed
barbarians and to wani them of the awful horror
that would follow one rash act

General Miles sent the following to General
Schofield: —

" General Brooke^s command is now camped
five miles distant on White Clay Creek, and
the entire body of Indians are between the two
commands. General Brooke has commanded his
force with considerable skill and excellent judg-
ment. The greatest difficulty is now to restore
confidence. The Indians have great fear that
arms will be taken away, and then all treated
like those who. were on Wounded Knee They
have a large number of wounded women and
children, which creates a most depressing feeling
among the families, and a desperate disposition
among them. Military measures and movements T

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MASTBRINO TH« SITUATION.

liave been successful. Tlie control and govern-
ment now becomes the problem, yet no serious
embarrassment is apprehended at present"

By January 15th the situation had much im- I
proved. The dispatches ran thus : —

"The Indians have at last come, or, rather
are coming in. They string along the wMt
bank of the White Clay Creek for a distance
of two miles. They are mounted, walking,
riding on wagons, and, in fact, are advancing
in every manner known to them. They are
driving and leading immense herds of ponies.
Some of them are entering the friendlies* camp ;
others are pitching their tepees on the west bank
of the White Clay. These are the Ogallallas.
The Brules, however, are camping in the bottom,
around Red Cloud's house, and half a mile fn)m .
the agency buildings. ^

The number of lodges i$ estimated at 742, and
the ntrmber of Indians cannot be fewer than 3,500.
General Brooke has been ordered to march with
his command from below the mission to this
point and will reach here to4ay. A part of his
command will camp on the west bank of White
Clay, extending north of the Indians, while
another will flank them on the west and south.
The advance guard of the hostiles had scarcely
reached the agency when Big Road sent woxti .

HASTBRING THB SITUATION.

^■S

that he had collected the arms of his followers
and wanted to surrender them to the agency.
When the weapons came in they were found to
consist of simply two shot-guns, a heavy rifle and
a broken carbine, two Sharp^s rifles and one Win-
Chester — nine guns in all.

This surrender is an evidence that the Indians
do not propose to give up all their guns and that
they have hidden their best weapons in the hills.
Standing Bear, American Horse, White Bird and
Spotted Horse, friendly chiefs, are now asking
protection from the hostiles, who have camped
among them.''

Official dispatches from General Miles to Gen-
eral Schofield contained the following :—

'^In order to restore entire confidence among
these Indians, I have found it necessary to send
a delegation to Washington, to receive assurance
of the highest authority of the good intentions of
the Government toward them. This will answer
a double purpose, namely, satisfy them, bridge
over the transition period between war and peace,
dispel distrust and hostility, and restore confid*
ence. It will also be a guarantee of peace while
they are absent. I ask that my action may
receive the approval of the Department by tele-
graph. Bver3rthing is progressing satisfactorily!

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and r can see no reason why perfect peace may
not be established.''

The reply from Schofield was :—

"The Secretary of War conferred with the
President and the Secretary of the Interior, in
regard to your proposal to send a delegation of
the Sioux Chiefs to Washington, and they
approve of your recommendation.

The Secretary of the Interior has sent an
agent to conduct them. It is desired that the
delegation be as small as possible, five or six, or
not more than ten. If the delegation has already
started, telegraph at once the number, route and
commanding officer/' _

On the same date, January 15th, 189 1, Gen*
eral Miles telegraphed to Schofield,^ announc-
ing the end of Indian troubles in the
west ^' The entire camp of Indians," says
Miles, '^ came into the agency this morning.
They moved in three columns while passing
under the guns of the command."

General Miles thought it fair to estimate their
number at not less than 4,000 people. He says
he has directed the chiefs to have the different
bands gather up their arms and turn them in,
which they were doing. He continues :

'* Kicking Bear, supposed to be the leader, was
the first to surrender his rifle this morning, and

MASTBRING TKB SITUATION.

Others of the same character will follow his
example. Of course, many of the young men
may hold .back an^ may cache their arms, but I
believe the disarming will be complete. Both
officers and men have exercised and maintained
a most commendable discipline, patience and
fortitude. All are gratified with the result It
will require some time to get the Indians under
full control, but everything is moving in a satis-
factory manner. The troops under General
Brooke have moved forward and are now in three
strong commands, with the Indians, upward of
7,000, in the centre, the whole within the radius
of ten miles."

In reply to the telegram sent by General
Schofield concerning the departure of the Indian '
delegation for Washington, Genera! Miles says:
^^ There is no necessity of haste. I do not intend
to send delegation until this matter is entirely
settled here, and Indians do as I have directed,
which directions they are now compl3ring with in
every respect This Indian war I now consider
at an end in the most satisfactory manner. A
more complete submission to the military
power has never been known."

The situation on Jan. i6th, 1891, was that 6,000
Indians still dung to their Winchesters with

grim determination. ^1 must have

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MASTERING THE SITUATION.

279

General Miles, ^^even if it becomes necessary to
}>our a few wagon loads of lead into their camp in
order to get them.'' He told the Chiefs that
nothing short of a full surrender of arms would
be accepted as an evidence of surrender. The
Chiefs gave their word that every effort would be
made to get the guns away from their followers,
but every device was resorted to by the holders
to avoid facing the music, while not a few posi-
tively refused to accept the terms offered. Miles
remained firm and gave notice that all who did
not give up their guns by night would have them
taken away by force.

On the 17th, General Miles asked for a con«^
fexence with the principal Chiefs. There was an
immediate response. Among the Chiefs were
Two Strikes, Short Bull, Eagle Pipe, Crow Dog,
Big Turkey, Black Robe, Kicking Bear, Iron
Foot and Man Raised Above. The Chiefs were
Brules, and when the subject of returning to their
agency at Rosebud was broached they said they
were in favor of returning if a militaty man .
should be placed over them as agent

After a little more parleying Big Road stood
up and solemnly and dramatically proclaimed
himself in favor of peace. At the same time he
asked those who wished to join him in restoring
peace and working for the prosperity of their

people, to raise their right hand towards Heaven.
Immediately every right hand in the gathering
was raised on high, and, with a general shaking
of hands, the conference came to a dose.

On January i8th, the Secretary of the Interior
(Secretary Noble), stated his views of the situa-
tion, now that he had been given to understand
that the Indian trouble was practically over.
First of all, he believed the Indians had no legiti-
mate use for firearms, and, therefore, should be
required to dispose of them.

Second, he thought that the intellect that could
master the mechanical intricacies of the rifle was
fully capable of comprehending and appreciating
the usefulness and noble simplicity of the plow.
He proposed to give the hostile Sioux an oppor-
tunity as well as an incentive to earn their own
living. Of the 244,ocx> Indians in the United
States, over two-thirds were earning their own
living, and making material progress in civiliza-
tion. The other third were depending largely,
if not entirely, upon the Government for support.
Of this latter class a large majority were Sioux,
and they had become boastful, arrogant and dic-
tatorial. They had been allowed to come to
Washington every year or two, and had become
deeply impressed with their own importance.
Some of those who are most vehement in their

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MASTERING THB SITUATION.

demands that they continue to be fed and wholly
maintained at the expense of the Government
are the owners of quite large herds of cattle, from
which they realize considerable suras of money.
Nevertheless they insist, with much gusto, that
the Government shall feed them, and when their
rations are slightly reduced they daub on the
paint and start out on the warpath. I am in favor,
said the Secretary, of making these people work for
their living, just as we white people are doing. They
are strong, able-bodied men, of average intelligence,
and there is no reason why they should not earn
their bread. The Government has treated them
with great generosity and consideration; especi*
ally is this true during the last half century.
In the early days the settlers treated them as
murderers of innocent men, women and children,
and the insatiable enemies of the white race.
Latterly they have beeen treated with more than
kindness, and so they have come to believe that
the white people are under never-ending obliga*
tions to them.

The time has fully come, in the opinion of the
Secretary, when the hostile Sioux should be
compelled to do something for their own support
They should be treated with perfect fairness and
justice, but work should enter largely into any
policy or schemt for their civilization.

MASTERING TUB SITUATION.

381

By January 22nd, the suomission of the hos-
tiles had been so complete that General Miles
resolved upon an honorary parade of his troops,
the design being to celebrate the return of peace
and to impress the Indians with the power of the
Government, and a sense of their own weakness.
Ten thousand Sioux were given an opportunity to
view the strength and discipline of the force they
had confronted. The day was one of the most dis-
agreeable of the campaign. A furious wind blew
from the north, driving sand and snow over the
valley in blinding and choking sheets. The
camp of the soldiers . was two miles from the
agency. Through a stifling gale of sand Gen-
eral Miles aud his stafif rode in a ragged group,
the wind tossing the tails of their horses over
their flanks. It was after 10 o'clock when all the
preparations were complete for the review. The
summits of the buttes to the north were then
fringed with Sioux warriors, who were closely
wrapped in their blankets and staring at the long
lines of cavalrymen and infantry which stretched
away to the south until they were lost in the
flying sand. The redskins were still suspicious
that some move would be made to wipe them off
the face of the earth. Stretching in a long '
ghostly line along the ridge of the buttes to the
north were their pickets ready to give the word[^

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MASTBklNG THB SITUATION.

that would send the redskins flying in case the
soldiers should advance upon them.

General Miles sat upon his black horse on a
knoll to the east in front of his escort Finally
there came through the gale the slxnll notes of
bugles. They were so faint that they were almost
lost in the storm. Then one by one the troops
took up the call and the great parade of the
Regular Army began to pass in review. Gen*
eral Brooke, muffled up in a wolf skin overcoat,
grimy from the sand that swirled about his horse,
and followed by his staff, led the procession.
When the horsemen passed in front of General
Miles, the two leaders of the campaign tipped
their hats, then General Brooke took a position
beside his superior.

A cloud of sand now swept across the prairie,
but through the blinding sheet, and with heads
muffled in huge fur capes, came the great detach-
ment of Sioux scouts with Captain Taylor, with
his sword at a salute, at their head. Sergeant
Redshirt, the handsomest Indian in the Sioux
nation, was at the extreme right Yankton Char-
lie, who saved the revolvers of poor Lieutenant
Casey, rode at the left of the line, his overcoat
buttoned so closely about him that the war feath«
era on his breast were concealed.

MASTERING THB SITUATION.

•83

Behind these famous scouts was the First Reg-
iment Band, of Angel Island, California, in fur
mittens and caps, playing a march which was al*
most lost in the roar of the storm. Then came
the great swinging column of infantry, in brown
canvas overcoats, fur caps, and the glittering bar-
rels of their rifles over their shoulders. Colonel
Shafter rode at the head of the advance columns.
The men marched in company front, with their
red and white guidons tattered by shot and shell
snapping spitefully in the gale. This was the fa«
mous First Regiment of the army, and as its offi*
cers passed in front of General Miles, their swords
flashed through the flying sand and then fell at
their saddle girths. The band now ceased play-
ing, andin place of its melody there came the
stirring and shrill mutterings of a dozen bugles.
Behind the trumpeters tramped the Second In«
fantry, of Omaha, in blue overcoats and brown
leggings, with Major Butler at their head ; and
then came the Seventeenth Infantry, swinging
along with the jauntiness it displayed when it
marched through the blizzard and sand along
•Cheyenne River.

There was a rumbling back of the Infantry
where the mules were dragging the machine can-
non. Those guns, the Indians declare, shoot

to-day and kill to-morrow. Behindithesejaturlune^

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KASTBRING THB SITUATION.

cannon was Captain Capron*s battery of three
inch rifled guns, with soldiers holding their car-
bines and sitting on the caissons. Behind the
artillery was General Carr, astride a bay horse
and leading the Sixth Calvary, which has cut its
way through the southwest from the Indian
Nation to the Rio Grande. His entire regiment
was prancing behind him, the troopers being
mu£Bled in canvas overcoats, with their rifles slung
tO' their saddles. General Carr*s hat went oflf
with deliberate grace. Its response was the dip-
ping of General- Miles* sombrero. Then the
famous leader of the southwestern troopers drew
up alongside of General Miles and General
Brooke, while his troops pushed forward through
the storm. More Hotchkiss guns followed, and
then came the Leavenworth battalion, a mixed
regiment commanded by Colonel Sanford. Be-
hind these troops was still another battery of
Hotchkiss guns, the carriages of which still bore
evidences of the furious storm of shot that raged
for an hour at Wounded Knee.

A lean, shrunken face man, with his overcoat
buttoned tightly around his throat, and mounted
on a splendid horse, followed the cannon. It was
Colonel Guy V. Henry, who was shot through
the face in a battle with the Sioux, in 1876, and
vAo 4ed 'his -flying negzo troops of the 9th

MASTBRIKO TUB SITUATION.

a«5

Cavalry, in the all-night ride of 80 miles, to save
the 7th Cavalry, which was threatened with
Custer's fate at the Catholic Mission, less than
four weeks ago. Behind him were long lines of
black faces peering from fur caps and the high
collars of buffalo overcoats. The negro Cavalry
came in unbroken columns, with its world-famed
and decorated heroes of the Thomburg massacre
riding at the extreme left, and their carbines at
a salute. Eveiy man in the 9th Cavalry was in
that long ebony wave of faces, and as it swept in
front of General Miles, the famous Indian fighter
dipped his hat again and again.

There was another battery of machine guns,
and then came in long column front the most
celebrated regiment in the Western Army. It
was preceded by a bugle corps, mounted on white
horses, and from the glittering instruments there
came a roar that even the screaming of the storm
could not drown. The troopers of the 7th
Cavalry, a regiment that has been torn and leveled
by the silent ghost dancers on the buttes, was
approaching. The musicians, from California
began to play "Garryowen,'* a stirring, rollicking
melody, which Custer said was fit music for any
soldier's death. The troopers came with their
carbines at a salute and their blue capes flung
back^ so that their yellow linings were exposedj

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MASTBRINO THE SITUATIOK.

Major Whiteside was in command of the regi*
ment As it passed General Miles^ the whole
staff doffed their hats^ while the Commander him«
self waved his white-gloved hand. Troop after
troop passed by with guidons that bad been
riddled by Indian bullets, until B troop and K
troop came in view. The appearance of these
troops aroused the emotions of the spectators.
B troop was not so large as those that had pre-
ceded it, and K troop was even smaller. When
the savages at Wounded Knee turned their car*
bines on the soldiers, these troops faced an awful
fire. K troop was without its Commander and
all of its commissioned and non-commissioned
officers. The only officer to lead B troop was a
second lieutenanti with a bandage about his head,
but the gallant troopers who remained rode with
a proud bearing. Their rifles were held over the
heads of their horses. Behind the Cavalry came
the hospital and supply trains and pack mules.

The column was an hour passing General
Miles, their being nearly 4,000 soldiers and 3,700
horses and mules in line.

Such was the end of the Indian uprising of
1890-9Z, in the north-west The promised Com-
mission of Indian Chiefs came duly to Washing-
ton to consult with the " Great Father." They
arrived about the last of January 1891, and were

MASTERING THE SITUATION.

aS;

received, as all similar delegations have been,
with impressive honors mingled with curiosity.
They were shown around the Capital City to
impress them with the exhaustless resources of
the whites, and the beauty and comfort to be
attained by our superior civilization. They
were shown our arsenals, guns great and
small, and our endless supplies of ammunition,
as much as to say, ^'What General Miles has
shown you at Pine Ridge is nothing to what
we have in reserve for you if you do not behave
yourselves." They were dined and wined to give
them a good impression of our hospitality.
About the time they were supposed to be in
prime condition for an official reception by the
"Great Father," another delegation of Chiefs
came upon the scene, who claimed to be better
representatives of the Sioux tribe and of the
Indian situation, than the first. They pro-
claimed that the first delegation embraced only
worthless Chiefs, who would not work and who
were hostile at heart, whatever their professions
might be. As this chapter closes, these rival
delegations are urging their respective claims on
the Government, with the prospect of exhausting
the patience of the authorities, and achieving
nothing of moment at last

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Chapter XIX.

SENTIMENT RESPECTING THE
UPRISING.

f\ MID the sensationalism of the newspaper
1^ press and the prejudicial accounts of the
/ ' Indian situation which go out from the
agencies and the conflicting missionary
centres one feels glad to strike a vein of candor.
Such would seem to be found in the statements of
Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who has not only mastered
the recent critical situation, but who has been in
contact with the Indians for a sufficiently long
time to enable him to reason correctly and ex«
press himself intelligently and truthfully. He
is the best situated man in the country to state
impartially what he knows of the relation of the
Red to the White race. That he has done so in
his contribution to the JVor/A American Review^
for January iSpi^no one can have cause to doubt
We are so entirely convinced of the value of his
views as to regard them as fitted for a permanent
place in the history of Indian affairs, ^nd as in-
valuable in the consideration of such a policy as

8BNTIMBKT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISIKa S89

will do credit to a powerful and advancing nation
in its dealings with a weaker and receding nation.
His conclusions^ as given in very nearly his own
language are as follows ; —

The fact that we have had a few years of peace
is no guarantee that it will continue. Within
the last sixteen years we have had no less than
nine Indian wars, and now we find ourselves
threatened with a more serious and general up-
rising than any that has occurred during the
whole history of Indian warfare. The confedera-
tion of the "Six Nations" by the prophet, the
campaigns of Tecumseh, and the conspiracy of
Pontiac did not extend over so vast an area of
country, or embrace so many different tribes,
many of whom have been hostile to each other,
. as the present conspiracy ; and while the condi-
tions are somewhat similar to those which have
preceeded other Indian confederations, conspira-
cies and wars, this one has unusual features and
causes.
^ The Indians are practically a doomed race, and
none realize it better than themselves. They have
contended inch by inch for every foot of territory
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The strength,
superior intelligence and ingenuity of the white
racein the construction of weapons of war, and
their vast superiority in numbers, have not d^-^

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^90 8BKTIMBKT RGSPBCTING THB UPRISING.

terredthe Indians from resisting the power of
the whites and beginning hostilities, sometimes
even with apparently little justification, cause
or hope of success ; and there would be nothing
x^markable in the history of such a warlike
people, if they made one desperate e£fort in the
death-struggle of the race.

The subjugation of a race by their enemies
cannot but create feelings of most intense hatred
add animosity. Possibly if we should put ourselves
in their place, we might comprehend their feel-
ings. Suppose, for instance, that instead of
being a nation of vast wealth, population, pros-
perity and happiness, our numbers were narrow-
ed down to two hundred and fifty thousand souls,
scattered in bands, villages or settlements of
from five hundred to twenty thousand people,
and confined within the limits of comparatively
small districts. Suppose this vast continent had
been overrun by sixty millions of people from
Africa, India, or China, claiming that their
civilization, customs, and beliefs were older and
better than ours, compelling us to adopt their
habits, language and religion, obliging us to wear
the same style of raiment, cut our hair according
to their fashion, live upon the same food, sing
fhe same songs, worship the same AUah^,
Vishnus and Brahmas; and we realized that

SBNTIMRNT RBSPECTINO THE UPRISING.

291

such a conquest and the presence of such a horde
of enemies had become a withering blight and a
destroying scourge to our race: what' then
would be our feelings towards such a people ?
In considering this question we may be able to
realize something of the feelings of the Indians
to-day. They remember the romance of the
freedom and independence they once enjoyed;
the time when they could move from one pleasant
valley to another ; when they had all that an In-
dian desires, namely, plenty of food, comfortable
lodges made of skins of the bu£falo or elk, plenty
of their kind of clothing ; and when they were
allowed to enjoy their customs, rites^ and amuse-
ments, savage and brutal as they were.

The first time the writer met Sitting Bull was
under a flag of truce between the lines, when he
had a thousand warriors behind him ; and during
the conversation I think he expressed in a few
words the true sentiment of the Indian. He was
what might be considered a devotional man,
frequently offering a little prayer and saluting
the Great Spirit. One remark of his is certainly
significant Raising his eyes toward heaven, he
said : ^^ God Almighty made me an Indian, and
he did not make me an agency Indian, and I do
not intend to be one.'' That remark was in-
dorsed by huge grunts of the stalwart savafi^es

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99t SENTUIBNT &BSPBCTING THE UPRISING.

within hearing, and it is the sentiment of the
non-treaty, disaffected Indians of every tribe in
every section of the great West They prefer to
be Indians in their wild and independent life
rather than to be confined to the limits of any
agency.

While we have continued the policy of using
the military force of the government against
th^m with all severity, as soon as that is com-
pleted and the tribes are subjugated, they are
suddenly turned over to civilians, some from the
far-off Eastern States, to try various experiments
and to carry out the theories that they have of
civilization. Take, for instance, the Kiowas,
Cheyennes and Comanches of the Indian Terri-
tory. Their history has been a history of peace
and war for many years. In 1874 they had a
great convention or medicine-dance, which result-
ed in a general uprising, in which they became a
terror to the whole southwest country. After
committing many crimes and after many engage-
ments with the troops, they were finally worn
down and subjugated, and surrendered with
scarcely any means of continuing hostilities.
Most of the few remaining war ponies they had
were sold; they gave up their pale and emaciated
white captives, who in turn passed down the line
of warriors and pointed out not less than seventy

SBNTIMBNX RBSPBCTING THE UPmSING. 293

Comanches who had committed horrible atrocities
during the eight mouths of hostility. These
seventy warriors were sent to Florida for punish-
ment and the military control of the tribes was
withdrawn. Within a few years the warriors
were returned to the Indian Territory, and in
nine years from that time the same Indians^were
rearmed and remounted, in better condition for
war than before, and ripe for an outbreak. The
commanding general of the army and the depart-
ment commander were sent to the Indian Teni
tory, and nearly one-fourth of the army was
concentrated in that department to prevent
a serious outbreak, endangering the peace of
Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, by
the same Indians who are now in a threatening
condition.

Again, take the Sioux nation, that committed
the terrible massacre of *62 in Minnesota, in
which it was authoritatively stated that one
thousand lives were lost, and a very large mili-
tary force was employed to bring them under
control. Thirty of the principal leaders were
tried and hanged, but yet that experience did not
deter others of the. same Indians from engaging
in the subsequent wars of the Sioux nation. In
1867 the Sioux were again in a condition of hos-
tility, and the Fetterman massacre occurred, the

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194 8BNTIM8MT RB8PBCTINO THE UPRISING.

Indians being led by the same man^ (Red Cloud)
who is said recently to have been instrumental
in causing dissatisfaction among the different
tribes. Treaties were made with them in 1869,
but in 1876, they were again openly hostile,
spreading terror over a vast section of the coun-
try, embracing a portion of the two Dakotas,
Montana, Northern Nebraska, and a part of
Wyoming, The massacre on the Little Big
Horn followed in 1876, in which two hundred
and sixty officers and soldiers under General
Custer perished^ After two seasons of campaign-
ing against them by the United States troops,
during the winter of 1875 and the summer of
1876, and the terribly sevtre winter campaign
of 1876 and 1877, upwards of five thousand
agreed to surrender, and nine of their principal
men gave themselves as hostages that the tribes
would surrender on the Yellowstone or at the
different agencies; which they did with the
exception of two bands under the leadership of
Lame Deer and Sitting Bull. The former was
killed in the following May, and the latter driven
to Canada and kept north of the boundary for
three years, until he and his followers finally
surrendered between 1877 and i88i.

For four years from 1877 to 1881 they were
under militaty control, and many of them were

8BNTIMBKT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING. 195

made self-sustaining. They were disarmed and dis-
mounted, their war ponies were sold and the pro-
ceeds returned to them in domestic stock, and in a
few years they had a large herd of cattle, and
wagons and cultivated fields. In z88x they were
ordered to be sent down the Yellowsto^.e and Mis-
souri to the southern agencies, and although
they implored the different officers to write or
telegraph to the authorities in Washington to
leave them where their crops were developing in
the fields, they were loaded on five large steam-
. boats and shipped down the river, and turned
over to the Indian agent at Standing Rock
Agency.

Many of these same Indians are now in a con-
dition of threatening hostility. Within the short
space of ten years we find the condition of the
Cheyennes and Sioux Indians to be as follows ;
the fine herd of cattle belonging to the Chey-
ennes has disappeared. They claim that it has
been partly taken by the whites, and that they
were obliged to use the remainder for food. They
claim that it was almost impossible for them to
obtain food without committing depredations,
and they stated in the presence of a commission
recently visiting them tibat they were ^^ compelled
to eat their dogs in order to sustain life." The
fact that they have not received |Stt£^ratfix|d

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296 SENTIMENT RESPECTING THE UPRISING.

is admitted by the agents and the oflficers of the gov-
ernment who have had opportunities of knowing,
and their condition is again as threatening as at
any time when they have not been in hostility. -n

The Sioux Indians during that time were
under the charge of civil agents, who have been
frequently changed, and often inexperienced.
Many of the tribes have become rearmed and
remounted, and have assumed a threatening atti-
tude. They claim that the government has not
fulfilled its treaties and has failed to make large
enough appropriations for their support; they
also claim that they have suflFered for the want
of food, and the evidence of this is beyond ques-
tion and sufficient to satisfy any unprejudiced,
intelligent mind. The statements of the officers,
inspectors both of the Military and the Interior
Department, of agents, of missionaries and civil-
ians familiar with their condition, leave no room
for reasonable doubt that this is oile of the princi-
pal causes of the present disturbance. While
statements may be made as to the amount of
money that has been expended by the Govern-
ment to feed the di£ferent tribes, and while there
is no intention of questioning the honesty of all
concerned, the mannerofdistributing those appro*
priations will furnish one reason for the deficit

SENTIMENT RESPECTING THE UPRISING, 297

Another cause is the unfortunate failure of the
crops in the plains country during the last two
years. It has been almost impossible for the
Indians to raise anything from the ground for ^
self-support; in fact, white settlers have been
very unfortunate and their losses have been
serious and universal through a large section of
that country. They have struggled on from
year to year; occasionally they would raise good
crops of com, which they were compelled to sell
for from fourteen to twenty cents per bushel,
while in the season of drought their labor was
almost entirely lost So serious have been their
misfortunes that many hundreds have left the
country within the last few years, passing oyer
the mountains to the Pacific slope or returning
to theeast banks of the Missouri and Mississippi.

The -Indian, however, cannot migrate from one
part of the United States to another; neither can
he obtain employment as readily as white peo-
pie, either upon or beyond the Indian reserva-
tions. He must remain in comparative idleness
and accept the results of the drought This
creates a feeling of discontent, even among the
. loyal and well-disposed, while there is quite a
large element that is hostUe and opposed to every
process of civilization.

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In this condition of affairs the Indians realize ^
ithe inevitable, and as they see their nmnbers
gradnally diminishing, their strength and power
gone, they pray to their God for some supemat-
nral help to aid them in the restoration of their
former independence, and for the destruction of
their enemies. At this stage emissaries from a
certain religions sect or people living on the
western slope of the Rocky Mountains came
among them announcing that the real Messiah
ha^ appeared ; and in order to convince them-
selves, delegations of Sioux, Cheyennes, and
other tribes left their reservations a year ago
last November, travelling through the Arra-
pahoe and Shoshone reservations in Wyo*
ming, and thence via the Union Pacific they
I>assedinto Utah, and were joined by others, Ban-
nocks and K-Utes, until they came to a large
conclave of whites and Indians in Nevada. They
were there told that those present were all believ-
ers in this new religion, that they were all
an oppressed people, ^that the whites and Indians
there were all the same, and that the Messiah I
had returned to them. —^

So well was this deception played by men
masquerading and personating Christ, that they
made these superstitious savages believe that all
who had fisuth in this '^ new • religion '' would

SBNTIMBNT RBSPECTINO THB UPRISING 399

occupy tne earth, and all who do not would be
destroyed ; and they were told that which is most
precious to the Indian heart, that the spirits of
their departed relatives would be resurrected,
and that after the whites were destroyed they
would come back driving vast herds of buffaloes
and wild horses. They there met the represent-
atives of fourteen tribes of Indians, and after sev-
eral months they returned to the various tribes
and announced what they had seen and heard,
fully convinced that what had been told them
was true. But in order to gratify the savage
nature of the warlike Sioux they agreed that
acts would be necessary to appease or hasten the
coming of the Messiah ; that they must help re-
move the whites and thereby show their faith by

their works. I

To the disaffected, turbulent, hostile spirit of
such men as Sitting Bull and others this was like
a revelation ; nothing could be more gratifying ;
and the false prophets and medicine-men imme-
(iiately took advantage of the condition of the In-
ilians to proclaim this doctrine and spread disaffec-
tion among the different tnbes. -^

In early life Sitting Bull gained his reputation
as a warrior by incessantly organizing and lead-
ding raiding parties and by his perpetual hostility
to the white race. Few Indians have anpc^^Qp

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-3U> SBNTIMBNT RBSPBCTING THE UPRISING.

this continent who have been more successful in
organizing ajid drawing to them large bodies of
the discontented of their people. Emissaries trav-
elled in various directions, not alone from his tribe
but more especially from the Shoshones and
Arrapahoes, who have been to some extent peace-
able for many years, going to the different tribes
and endeavoring to persuade them to this belief.
Emissaries from Sitting Bull carried the tidings'^
to, the different tribes to get all the arms and am-
munition possible, and meet all the warriors near
the Black Hills in the spring. They visited the
band of Sioux Indians north of the British bound-
ary, and sympathy and promise of support were
returned. The first sign of disturbance was to
be the signal for the gathering of the warriors.

During the last few years, and while there was
apparently no danger of immediate outbreak, the
Indians have been getting a large amount of am-
munition and arms. The Indian's instinct is al-
ways to obtain some weapon of warfare or defence,
and if he cannot obtain a rifle, he will get a knife
or a bow and arrow. His favorite weapon, and
one he has been most desirous of obtaining, is
the long-range Winchester rifle, which is a rifle
of the most effective kind.

The theory that a few lines of railway and the
disappearance of the vast herds of buffidoes have

SBNTIMBNT HBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING. 301

made it impracticable for Indians to* go to war is
erroneous. They are in a better condition for
war at present than ever before ; they can live
upon domestic stock, and there is abundance of
it scattered over the plains country and much of
the mountain country ; and the numerous horse-
ranches would furnish them a remount in nearly
every valley. The Nez Perces, Bannocks, and
Apaches in their recent wars lived and moved en-
tirely upon the stock of white settlers. The area
over which they could roam is the country west
of the Missouri River between the Canadian
boundary and the Rio Grande. It contains a
very sparse population that has been struggling
to plant homes. < — i

Another reason of encouragement to the Indians ^
to assume hostilities, and one of which their false
prophets take advantage in influencing their fol-
lowers, is the misfortunes that have occured to
the white people in the plains country during the
last few years. Three years ago a very large
percentage of the domestic stock was destroyed
by the intensely cold winter of 1887, and the losses
were ruinous to thousands of white settlers
and ranchmen. The drought during the last two
years has been very serious, and has caused many
of the poor settlers who have been struggling for
years to support themscjlves and their families tolC

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303 SENTIMENT RESPECTING THE UPRISING.

leave that country in pursuit of better fields west
of the Rocky Mountains or east of the Missouri.
This, the false prophets claim, is an indication
that the Great Spirit is angry with the white peo-
ple for destroying their buffaloes (cattle) and caus-
ing them to leave the country, and that in time
their buffidoes will return, as well as their dead I
relatives. ^

While the Indians have been in this disaffected
condition and rearming and remounting, the little
army that is the only safeguard between the un-
protected settlers and the savage hordes has been
employed in other fields, audits supplies and
equipments have been seriously curtailed. Con-
gress has fixed the limit of the enlisted men in the
army, the number of employees, the number of
horses and the number of mules, and the limit is
what might be required in time of peace, rather
than what is actually required in serious warfare.
Congress, however, has not limited Indian wars.
This necessarily causes much embarrassment to
the United States troops ; yet it has been the ex-
perience of the army of the United States to cope
with the lai^ number of savage tribes, experienc-
ing all the dangers and hardships of a war in
which no quarter is expected, and every officer and
soldier who enters an Indian campaign realizes

SENTIMENT RESPECTING THE UPRISING. 303

that unless he achieves success, naught awaits
him bnt torture or death.

No one who has not experienced it can com*
prehend or appreciate the fortitude, hardships and
sacrifices displayed and endured by our arm;^ in
its years of experience in Indian warfare; fre-
quently in the wildest and most rugged sections
of country, amid canyons, mountains, and lava-
beds, under the tropical heats of the south or in
the Arctic blizzards of the extreme north ; yet,
year after year, it discharges whatever service is
required of it with most commendable fidelity.

You ask me who is responsible for this con-
dition of affairs. The answer is, both the whites
and the Indians.

First — ^Those white men who have compelled
the Indians to live upon limited tracts of land
and allowed them to get into the condition in
which we now find them, dissatisfied and equipped
for war.

5>^«^]P— Another class of whites are those who
have committed the great crime of instilling into
the minds of these superstitious and vicious sav-
ages the delusion that they have a Messiah among
them, and that the white people who do not believe
it will be destroyed by some supernatural powen it
matters not whether the Indians have been incitedj
by this class of white people in actual woixis to[C

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304 6BNTIMBNT RBSPECTINO THB UPRISING.

open hostilities or not ; the deceptions that have
been practised upon them have aroused their war-
like natures until they are in a condition for de-
vastation, plunder, ravage, and all the horrors
that savage fiends can inflict upon defenceless
and unprotected people.

7>b>^— Another class of people who are respon-
sible are the white men who have made merchan-
dise of the welfare and safety of their own
people ; in other words, those who have sold
thousands of improved magazine long-rauge rifles
and tous of ammunition to savages, which alone
euable them to devastate the country. Those
Indians could manufacture neither a rifle, a car-
tridge, nor a knife ; yet they are better armed and
better supplied with ammunition to-day than at
any time in their histoxy.

Fourth — ^Those who are to blame for this
threatened danger are the Indians themselves;
and Halleck's description of Red Jacket is not a
bad illustration of the Indian's double character.
While they have wrongs and grievances that
have been fully enumerated, at the same time
they have friends anxious to protect their inter-
ests; but, notwithstanding this, they would in
justification of some real or imaginary wrong, or
prompted by some wild, savage religious frenzy,
ravage a country and brain the innocent prattling

SBNTIMHNT RBSPBCTING THB UPRISING.

3«5

babe with fiendish delight as readily as they
would meet a stalwart foe.

If you ask for a remedy that will prevent the
possibility of such a condition of affairs in the
future, I would say that I have not changed the
opinion formed and stated thirteen years ago.
After careful observation of all the principal
tribes in the United States, I believe that those
people who have been, and are still, a terror to the
peace and good order of certain States and Terri-
tones should be placed under some government
just and strong enough to control them.

The time has arrived when the lifes, welfare,
prosperity, and future of those great States are
too precious and too valuable to be jeopardized by
these yearly alarms and frequent Indian wars.
While thousands of people have fled from their
little homes, and abandonedmost of their property,
to seek shelter and refuge in any place where it
could be obtained, and while thousands of resolute
and intrepid officers and soldiers are enduring the
severity of a Dakota winter to hold in restraint
these tribes of turbulant savages, it is hoped that
some conclusion will be reached by the Govern-
ment to permanently end the present state of
affairs. The subject is too serious for selfishness,
acrimony, or partianship. It requires judicious,
humane, and patriotic JreatmentL C-^OOqIp

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$o6 8BNTIMBNT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISIKO.

As a sample of the difficulties General Miles
had to contend with in drawing his cordon around
thehostiles and gradually forcing a 'surrender
against which they could hardly niunnur, we
instance the murder of Few Tails, who was
revered in his tribe, and who ranked as a philoso-
pher among his kind. He was never regarded
as other than friendly and his influence was
courted whenever negotiations of a serious nature
impended. A Pine Ridge correspondent thus
tells of his murder, under the date of January
19, 1891 : — When treacherous whites in the Bear
Butte country wantonly murdered old Few Tails
last week,and wounded his squaw, they committed
an outrage that has come near ruining General
^Miles' plans, and stampeding the 5,cxx> hostiles
who are in camp here. Pew Tails was a relative
of Young-man-afraid-of-his-horses, the only
hereditary chief in the Great Sioux nation, and
the most powerful leader among his people.

Few Tails* party were on their way to Pine
Ridge from a hunt. in the Bear Butte country.
The party consisted of six bucks, two squaws,
twelve ponies and two wagons. They carried
with them a pass from General Brooke, and
assurances from Captain Taylor that they were
peaceable. Not a member of the little band was
painted and they carried no ammunition or guns.

8BNTIMBKT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING. 307

Early on the morning of the nth they started
on their journey southward. Before breaking up
camp they carefully banked their fires.

They had gone but a short distance when they
were fired upon from an ambush by a party of
,whites. Few Tails fell dead. One bullet
pierced his brain and another missile struck him
in the breast His squaw was shot in the leg
and breast and probably fatally hurt.

Few TaiPs corpse lay among the wild meat in
the vehicle, while his squaw managed to crawl to
the bushes, where she hid for a day before set-
ting out on her painful tramp to Pine Ridge, one
hundred miles away. The rest of the Indians
abandoned the other wagon and fled, and she
supposed that they too, were slain. About
twenty yards from the place where Few Tails
was killed. Lieutenant Marshall, of the Eighth
Cavalry, found twenty or more Winchester rifle
cartridges in a clump of bushes where the mur-
derers were in hiding when the Indians were pass-
ing along. On the day of the murder two young
men by the name of Culbertson called at the
camp of Colonel Merriam, of the Seventh In-
fantry, and admitted that they had killed the In-
dians, but claimed that the band had been caught
stealing horses. Colonel Merriam, in his report
to General Miles, says this story is untrue, and

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^'^ 5SNTIMBNT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING.

requests that the Governor of South Dakota be
advised of the outrage, so that the murderers
may be punished. Lieutenant Marshall, in his
report, characterizes the killing as cold blooded
murder. When the wounded squaw crawled into
the camp of the Sixth Cavalry at this place,
yesterday, she was almost dead.

So slow had been the transmission of official
reports that the wounded woman, although she
has stumbled and fallen all the way from Bear
Butte, preceded them by a half hour. When
she reached the hospital she began to rave about
the murder of Few Tails. The Indians who were
nursing the other wounded Sioux quickly spread
the report that a relative of Young-man-afraid-of-
his-horses had been killed by the whites.

Almost instantly there was commotion in the
hostile camp. Scouts reported the situation to
General Miles, who immediately sent runners
after Young-man-afraid-of-his-horses. When the
chief appeared at headquarters and learned of
the ingratitude of the whites he scowled, and for
a few moments refused to be pacified Meantime
the hostiles were saddling up their horses on
the sides of the buttes and herding their cattle.
It is a fact that it took all the diplomacy at the
command of General Miles and his staff to win
back iht good will of the great chief. Finally

SBKTIMBNT RBSPBCTING TUB UPRISING. 309

the latter walked away apparently satisfied that
the army at least was not responsible for the
assassination, but the fright of the hostiles was
intensified to such an extent that the military
became alarmed.

Captain Charles King, of the Regular Army,
in speaking of the death of Lieutenant Casey,
while on a tour of observation and in front of
one of the hostile Brule camps,reminds the country
of the immense losses of valuable lives occa-
sioned by each Indian uprising. The aggregate
is certainly appalling, and to sead the list it is
fair to conclude that Indian wars, by reason
of their frequency, are far more disastrous in the
end than a square bout with a foreign nation has
ever proved to be. The Captain says : —

" Another brave spirit gone I Another gallant
fellow foully and treacherously murdered by the
red men, and God alo ue knows who is to go next"

There was something particularly sad about
the killing of Lieutenant Casey. He was one of
the pets of the whole service, and by that I mean
not the pets described by the Washington corres-
pondents of some of our papers, but a frontier
•pet — ^a man loved by his comrades and almost wor*
shipped by his men, because of the genial qualities
that seemed to overflow within hinu

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yo 8BNTIXBNT KESPBCTING THB UPRISING.

He was full of wit,fun, and devilment— a ring-
leader in the pranks of his classmates, and the
center of a laughing group at every recreation
hour.

He was one of the cracK officers of his regi-
ment—^tanley^s old Twenty-second.

His selection to organize and command the
first troop of Indian scouts raised for service in
the North-west was an admirable one. Heart and
soul he threw himself into the task, and his en*
thusiasm had even reached and impressed the
SecretaxyofWar.

Mr. Remington, the artist, who has done such
yeoman service in bringing our frontier life and
service before the eyes of the people, was with
him at the moment of his tragic end, and has
told in simple but thrilling words the stoxy of
how the Brules first invited his coming, then
turned him back, and, like the brutal cowarfs
they are, shot him dead the instant his head was
turned.

Where will it end?

Only a fortnight ago we got the news of Wa.-
lace's death at Wounded Knee, and of the wound-
ing of Garlington, Mann and Hawthorne. Does
-anyone realize, I wonder, what losses the little
army has sustained in our battling with the hos-
tiles, for whom, if the truth were told, we feel far

SliNriMBNT RBSPBCTING THE UPRISING

3XX

more sympathy and friendship as a rule than do
the people at large ? It would be far too long a
story to tell of the years spent in close proximity
to the various tribes, the intimate knowledge
acquired of their actual needs, their real wrongs^
their fancied grievances, their usual treatment at
the hands of the politically appointed Indian
agents.

Just at this moment I am mainly impressed
with the truth and far reaching extent of the con-
viction forced upon me years ago — that the army
is but the bu£fer interposed between the white and
the red man, and no matter whether the original
wrong is wrought by agent or Indian, when the
latter takes the warpath it is the soldier who
suffers.

I am bound to say that once he digs up the
hatchet and prepares for business our noble red
man forgets the favors and hospitalities shown
him perhaps for years by his soldier friends, and
he eagerly draws a bead on Captain this or
Lieutenant that, around whose doorsteps he has
been begging or in whose kitchen he has been
fed more times than he can count ou his car-
tridges, and he is sure to have a plentiful supply
of these. He buys them between times as he
does his Winchester or Henry at ten times their

cost price in furs or peltries from the very settlqs^

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3ia 8BMTIliBNT RBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING.

who are the first to importune the Government
for troops and arms as soon as trouble comes.

If Indian war is not rough on officers then sta-
tistics are forked-tongued, as the Indian would
say, but I hope no life insurance agency will
believe them. But let us look at the list of offi-
cers slain by our red men in these days of piping
peace. It is formidable.

Brigadier General B. R. S. Canby, massacred
at the Modoc Council in the Lava Beds, April
1873 — a damnable piece of treachery, as was
the almost simultaneous murder of Lieutenant
Will Sherwood, Twenty-First Infantry, whom
they enticed to meet them by waving a flag of
truce and then shot him down when he came to
them ^' with peace in his outspread hands.**

Lieutenant Colonel William H. Lewis, Nine-
' teenth Infanty, in Western Kansas, September
1878.

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, Seventh
Cavalry, at the battle of Little Big Horn, in
Montana, June 25, 1876.
I Major Joel H. Elliott, Seventh Cavalry, at the
battle of the Washita, Indian Territory, Novem-
ber 19, 1868.

Surgeon Benjamin Tappan, Arizona, March,
1866.

8BNTIMBNT RBSPECTINO THB UPRTSINO. 313

Captain Fred H. Brown, Eighteenth Infantry,
near Fort Phil. Kearney, Wyoming Territory,
and Captain W. J. Fetterman, Twenty-seventh
Infantry, and Lieutenant George W- Grummond,
Eighteenth Infantry, in the same desperate battle
with Red Cloud^s surrounding warriors. Decem-
ber 21, 1866.

Lieutenant H. S. Bingham, Second Cavalry,
near the same spot and by the same Indians,
December 6, only two weeks before.

Lieutenant Lyman S. Kadder, Second Cavalry,
near Fort Wallace, Kansas, July, 1867.

Lieutenant John C. Jennes, Twenty-seventh
Infantry, near Fort Phil Kearney, August, i867.
(A &tal neighborhood this, both then and there-
after).

LieutenantJohnMadigan, First Cavalry, Pitt
River, California, September^ 1867.

Lieutenant Sigismund Sternberg, Twenty-
seventh Infantry, Fort C. F. Smith (near Fort
Phil. Kearney), August i, 1867.

Captain Louis M. Hamilton, Seventh Cavalry,
leading the charge on Black Kettle's village, on
the Washita, November 27, 1868. (Same battle
in which Major Elliott was killed).

Lieutenant Frederick H. Beecher, Third In-
fantry, September 17. 1868, Arickaree Fork of
the Republican, Western Kansas, (Colonel

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3f4 SBNTIMBNT RBSPHCTINO THB UPRISINa

George A. Forsyth, of SHeridan's staff, wounded
and crippled for life in the same fight).

Lieutenant William Russell, Jr., * Fourth
Cavalry, near Lampasas, Texas, May 15, 1870.

Lieutenant C. B, Stambaugh, Second Cavalry,
near Miner's Delight, Wyoming, May, 1870.

Lieutenant Howard B. Cushing, Third Cav-
alry (brother of Albemarle Cushing, of the
Navy), Arizona, May 5, 1870.

Captain Franklin Yeaton, Third Cavalry,
(died of wounds received in same fight).

Lieutenant Fred. R. Vincent, Ninth Cavaliy,
fight at Howard's Wells, Texas, April 20, 1872.

Lieutenant Eben Crosby, Seventeenth Infantry,
on survey of Northern Pacific Railroad, October
5fi872.

Lieutenant Lewis Adair, TwentjHsecondlnfan*
txy, same fight

Lieutenant Reid T. Stewart, Fifth Cavalry,
Arizona, August 27, 1872, (murdered by
Apaches).

Captain Evan Thomas, Fourth Artillery, Lava
Beds; California, April 26, 1873, battle with
Modocs.

Lieutenant Albion Howe, Fourth Artillery,
same fight

Lieutenant Arthur Cranston, Fourth Artillexy,
same fight*. . . .

SBNTIMBNT RBSPBCTING THB UPRISING.

315

Lieutenant George M. Harris, Fourth Artillery,
died of wounds received in same fight.

Lieutenant T. F. Wright, Twelfth Infantry,
same fight

Lieutenant Jacob Almy, Fifth Cavalry, killed
while protecting an Indian agent, San Carlos,
A. T., May 27, 1873.

The above have laid down their lives in what
may be called open warfare, but think of the long
list oif those who have been slain by treachery —
who went down in cold blood at the hands
of assassins. The sad list foots up as follows : —

Lieutenant William L. Sherwood, Twenty-
first Infantry, killed by Modocs, who enticed him
to them by waving a flag of truce, April 11, 1873.

Lieutenant L. H. Robinson, Fourteenth In-
fantry, murdered by Sioux, Cottonwood Creek,
Wyoming, February 9, 1874.

Captain Myles W. Keogh, Seventh Cavalry,
battle of the Little Horn, Mo/itana, June 25, 1876.

Captain George W. Yates, Seventh Cavalry,
same fight.

Captain T. W. Custer, Seventh Cavalry, same
fight.

Lieutenant and Adjutant W. W. Cooke, Sev-
enth Cavalry, same fight

Assistant Surgeon George B. Lord, U. S. A.,
same fight ^-^

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3i6 8BNTIHBMT RfiSPBCTXNO THB UPRISINa ' ^

Lieutenant A. E. Smith, Seventh Cavalry,
same fight

Lieutenant Donald Mcintosh, Seventh Cavalry
(Reno's battalion), same date.

Lieutenant James Calhoun, Seventh Cavalry,

same fight
Lieutenant James E. Porter, Seventh Cavalry,

same fight

Lieutenant Benjamin W. Hodgson, Seventh
Cavalry (Reno's battalion), same date.

Lieutenant James G. Sturgis, Seventh Cavalry,
same fight

Lieutenant W. Van W. Reilly, Seventh Cav'
ally, &ame fight

Lieutenant John J. Crittenden, Twenty-second

Infantry, same fight ^

Lieutenant H. M. Harrington, Seventh Cav-
alry, same fight

Lieutenant John A. McKinney, Fourth Cav-
airy. Powder River, Wyoming, November 25,
1876.

Captain Owen Hale, Seventh Cavalry, Bear's
Paw battle ground, leading the charge on Chief
Josephs band, September, 30^ 1877.

Lieutenant J. Williams Biddle, Seventh Cav*
airy, fell beside his captain in same charge.

Captain William Logan, Seventh Infimtry,
battle of Big Hole Pass, Montana, August 9, 1877.

SBNTIMBNT KBSPBCTINO THB UPRISING. 317

Lieutenant James H. Bradley, Seventh In-
fantry (the same officer who made the daring
night ride the previous year to locate the survi-
vors of the battle on the Little Horn) killed in
the same fight

Lieutenant William L. English, Seventh In-
fantry, same fight

Lieutenant E. R. Heller, Twenty-first Infantry,
White Bird Creek, Idaho, June 17, 1877.

Captain E. C. Hentig, Sixth Cavalry, Arizona,
August 30, i88i.

Lieutenant George W. Smith, Ninth Cavalry,
New Mexico, August 19, z88i.

Lieutenant Seward Mott, Tenth Cavalry, Ari-
zona, March ir, 1887.

Lieutenant Sevier M. Raines, First Cavalxy,
Craig's Mountain, Idaho, July 3, 1877.

Captain Andrew S. Bennett, Fifth Infantry,
Clark's Fork Mountain, Wyoming, September 4,
1878.

Major Thomas T. Thomburgh, Fourth In-
fantry, Milk River, Colorado, September 29, 1879.

Lieutenant William B. Weir, Ordnance Depar-
ment, killed by Utes, White River, Colorado,
October ao, 1879.

Add to these the names of the gifted and popu«
lar Dr. Maddox and Lieutenant J. Hansell
French, Tenth Cavalxy, who were kUled in thejp

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3t8 8BNTIMBNT RBSPBCTIKa THB UPRISIKa

later Apache campaign^ and of gallant Captain
Wallace, Seventh Cavalry, (the fourth captain to
be killed fighting at the head of ^'K" troop), and
now of "Ned" Casey, of the Twenty-second In-
fantry, and augment that by the list four times
its size, of the ofiEicers now maimed and crippled
by the wounds received in this savage and in-
glorious warfare, and it must be admitted that
the percentage of casualties is indeed heavy.
And 'then think of the enlisted men 1

We appropriate anywhere from five to ten
millions of dollars per annum to the Indians and
to their afiairs, and if the same amount of money
should be devoted to any class of white people,
benefaction would be regarded as one of the
most liberal public charities in the kno\/n world.
It is a very difficult thing, as every practical
philanthropist knows^ to make gifts with such
wise discretion as not to do more harm, than good ;
and it is quite possible that the red men would
be as well off in the long run if the Government
should stop trying to devote to their welfare an
average of, say, seven millions a year, and, after
decent notice, should cut them square off and not
give them another cent in the way of alms. If
we should leave them to shift for themselves, as
Canada does ; let them get along how they can,
get rich if they can — starve if they must-— they

8KNTIMBNT RBSPECTINO THB UPRISING.

319

would not bring more reproach and disgrace on
the countiy than they now do. It is reasonably
certain, however, that we shall never come to
such a conclusion. We can let our own flesh
and blood take the chances of good or evil fortune
without a shadow of thought or care, and if a
white man perishes in miseiy inconceivable and
all his tribe with him, the collective conscience
feels no twinge, and nobody but the cranks,
communists, and backward-looking social reform-
ers ever dreams of taking any Government action
to prevent or remedy such dire disasters, so long
as it is our own people who suffer and are crush-
ed to death in the struggle for existence. But .
with Lo the poor Indian the case is different
He must have a better show than we even pre-
tend to give our own, and the community feels
a tender sense of responsibility for his welfare
that is hurt and outraged whenever our clumsy
attempts to help him are found to miscarry, as
charitable undertakings so commonly do.

We have taken the lands of these natives, oo-
cupied their hunting grounds, and deprived them
of the means of continuing their savage exist-
ence; 'and now we, the people, in our national
capacity, feel that we must do what we can to
make their condition tolerable, and aid them to
liye in some other than the savage state we have j r>

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compelled them to abandon. It is for that reason
and for that purpose we are willing to set aside
every year such vast stuns for their use and be-
hoof.

We should, however, learn a little by experi-
ence. We know only too well, and all the world
knowsy how, a great deal, of waste and harm is
brought about, and it will be to our shame and
discredit if we do not seek to profit by that knowl-
edge; We have seen our money squandered and
the Indians driven to desperation by deception
and fraud, because we have allowed the national
bounty to become the prey of liars and thieves.
That should never be again. Not one dollar
should be appropriated by Congress for the al-
leged benefit of the Indians which will go, as we
do know it will go under the present agency Sys«
tern, into the pockets of plunderers.

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Full text of "Recent Indian wars, under the lead of Sitting Bull, and other chiefs; with a full account of the Messiah craze, and ghost dances"

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